My Guiding Flame
by sgnt.toastybuns
Summary: In a world where magic is thought to be nonexistent, a young boy's world is flipped upside down once he is dragged away from his home and forced to reside in a malicious King's court, training for an inevitable war between good and evil. But, the question of which is which has Natsu guessing. Can he manage all of this while trying to heal the sadness behind a certain girl's eyes?
1. Home

**Hello, lovelies! here with a brand, spanking new story for all of my loyal followers! As I've announced in Big Happy Family, I've been thinking over this story for a while now and decided to put it into motion. Originally, I didn't plan on associating this with Fairy Tail, but then I figured, why not? And so, here it is! I hope you all like it!**

 **Also, please don't think that I'm abandoning Big Happy Family. I'm just putting it on hiatus right now because I'm honestly running out of ideas for it, but I** _ **will**_ **be coming back to it whenever I have a clear idea and the time to actually do it. It is my very first story for this site and I love that it gave me this many followers with just a few crappy chapters. Thank you so much for that by the way!**

 **So, without further ado, here is My Guiding Flame (title brought to you by DarkAngelDan98)**

* * *

 **Chapter 1:**

* * *

 **Hold on to me as we go**

 **As we roll down this unfamiliar road**

 **And although this wave is stringing us along**

 **Just know you're not alone**

 **'Cause I'm gonna make this place you're home**

 **"Home"- Phillip Phillips**

* * *

There was once a time, many years ago, when magic was a regular concept used by many and brought happiness to those who held such power. Mages built guilds where they could employ other mages with different powers and take requests to help better the world they lived in and earn money along the way. No one would bat an eyelash if magic was used in public. Magic stores were placed in every town and used by both mages and mortals.

Those times, however, has been long gone ever since a paranoid old king once heard a prophecy from an oracle that magic would be his undoing. In a panic, he had his soldiers expand beyond the kingdom to hunt down any and all mages and see to their extinction. Men, women, and children alike were separated from their families and brutally murdered right in front of them. This mass genocide brought great abhorrence towards the king and the people eventually revolted against the crown.

There had been no warning of a rebellion.

The king had been sleeping peacefully in his bed, finally able to relax after he had heard word that the last mage had been properly dealt with. However, he had woken up to a knife plunged in his chest. This alone did not kill him, instead he was brought to the center of the village and publically humiliated in front of his citizens before being beheaded.

This had gone down in history as the day the citizens of Fiore had murdered their king. Magic was no longer used, but the people learned to adapt without it.

Many years later, a new king rose to power. King Judas Heartfilia of Fiore brought much prosperity to his kingdom and treated his people with respect and great affection. His queen, Layla Heartfilia, was as kind as she was beautiful. It was only natural that they produced a lovely heir by the name of Lucy. Unfortunately, not long after delivery, Queen Layla passed away due to complications during birth. The King had become cold and distant afterwards, but still managed to run his kingdom to the best of his ability while the young princess was raised without a mother.

There had been no more talk of magic or mages or guilds in a long while.

But, that doesn't mean it no longer existed.

FTFTFTFTFTFT

" _Igneel, I got the wood just like you-"_

 _The young boy stopped dead in the center of the grassy field he had called home for some years, dropping the wood he had gathered to the forest floor. Where there was usually a large, red-scaled dragon awaiting his arrival was nothing but empty space._

" _Igneel?" The boy looked around then became frantic. "Igneel?! S-stop messing around! This isn't funny."_

 _He called out desperately, but no one came. He ran along the perimeter of the field, disbelieving that a creature so large could simply disappear so suddenly. There was no explanation as to why he was gone. He just…was._

 _Tears started streaming down the boy's face as he screamed until his voice grew hoarse. He crumpled down to the ground, landing roughly on his knees. His fingers dug into the ground as he sobbed wordlessly. He had never been left alone in so long. Why so suddenly?_

 _As he prepared to get up and search more thoroughly, a large hand clamped over his mouth and he was picked up off the ground._

" _Well, well, well." A strange voice sneered in his ear. "What do we have here? Are you lost, little boy?"_

 _In response, the boy opened his mouth, revealing unnaturally sharp canines, and bit down on his attacker's hand. The man yelped in pain and through the child to the ground to cradle his bleeding hand to his chest._

" _Why you little-"_

 _The child took a deep breath before blowing out a billow of flames from his mouth. The man had the good sense to jump out of the way before looking at the child with a mixture of trepidation and wonder._

" _What…?" The man stumbled. "But…that's impossible."_

 _The child took in another breath, but was intercepted by a heavy net coming down on him and sending him flailing towards the forest floor. He huffed fire from his mouth in spurts and struggled with all of his might, but to no avail._

 _A second man appeared to assist the other off the ground and together they looked at the thrashing child in disbelief._

" _He's…he's a mage." The first man said as he stood on his own two feet._

" _It seems that way." The second one agreed. "But, I thought they were extinct. There's been no news of a mage in over a hundred years. This child has to be at least six-years-old."_

 _Both men's eyes widened. "That means there must be more."_

 _The second man went over to the child, pressing his boot against the boy's back in an attempt to get him to sit still._

" _Where are your parents, boy?" He questioned without any further introduction._

 _Instead of answering his question, the boy screamed, "You better let me go right now! My dad will be back soon and then you're going to be sorry!"_

" _Is that so? Is he a mage like you?"_

" _He's a big fire dragon and he's going to tear your heads off as soon as he gets back so you'd better beat it!"_

 _The man chuckled humorlessly. "There's no such things as dragons, kids. They've been extinct for hundreds of years."_

" _No, he's not! He's big and scary and he'll kill all of you!"_

 _The man stomped his boot against the boy's head. "You've got quite the mouth on you, kid. A mouth like that could get you in an awful lot of trouble."_

 _The boy thrashed wildly, spitting up dirt._

" _What do we do with him?" The first man came up, steering clear of the child's line of fire. (pun not intended)_

" _I say we take him to the king."_

" _The king? What's he going to do with him?"_

 _The other man shrugged. "Dunno. But, I reckon he'd want to hear about a fire-breathing mage in his kingdom, don't you think?"_

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Natsu Dragneel may have been a fire mage, but that didn't mean he was particularly strong. At least, not yet. He had been trained in the art of fire magic by his father starting from a young age. He could be dense at times, but that didn't mean he was deluded enough to believe that a dragon could be biologically related to a human boy, but that didn't make Igneel any less Natsu's father. Natsu didn't know who his real parents were or what happened to them nor did he care. He's known Igneel for as long as he could remember and that was enough for him. He had no doubt that Igneel loved him as if he were his own son and Natsu's feelings were mutual.

This fact only made Natsu wonder even more as to why Igneel would suddenly disappear the way he did. If he was still here, Natsu wouldn't be riding in the back of a wheeled monster with a sick feeling in his gut, all while being held captive by two strange men that kept him entangled in this godforsaken net. This wouldn't be a problem if Natsu didn't feel as if everything he had eaten in the last 24 hours was about to make a second appearance.

As the men drove, Natsu was able to take in the scenes they passed. All of his life, he's known nothing but the meadow where he lived and the forest surrounding it. He's never seen another human being in the flesh before today. He's seen plenty in the books Igneel had brought back with him once he returned from places he'd never disclose to Natsu. No matter how much he learned about them, nothing could have prepared him for the sight of village people milling about, going about their day.

His eyes darted around with curiosity and mild fear. There was just so many of them! He wondered if all humans resided in large groups such as this. Dragons were normally solitary creatures unless it was mating season. This was all so new to him. Children around his age passed by, too caught up in their own fun to notice him staring after them.

Natsu jumped out of surprise when the cart came to an abrupt halt. His stomach settled a bit, for which he was grateful, but it didn't last long once his heightened senses allowed him to listen in on the men's conversation in the front.

"Halt, men!" An authoritative voice ordered. "State your purpose."

"We've brought something that should be brought to the king's attention right away, sir." Natsu recognized one of kidnapper's voice, but couldn't tell which.

"Oh? And what, exactly, would be so important that it would have call the king's attention from his normal duties?"

"We believe we have found a mage in the forest, sir."

There was a beat of silence.

"That is a serious accusation, gentlemen. Mages have been extinct for many years. What proof do you have?"

"Go ahead and look at him. He's in the back."

Natsu heard the footsteps as someone approached. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he prepared for the worst.

A man with bright red hair came into view, his eyes landing on the small boy with atypical pink hair and fire in his eyes. He stepped closer, nothing the way the boy seemed to draw more into himself as if preparing for a hit. The child bared his teeth, revealing his sharpened fangs once again.

The man stepped back in alarm.

"Well, I'll be damned." He breathed.

He took one last glance at the defensive child before going around to the front of the cart. He waved the men through without another word.

Natsu met the man's eyes once again as the cart passed through the gate. There was no malice in the red-headed man's eyes like the other men had. Only a touch of sadness.

Once they were through, Natsu was relieve to see less people around. Only these people were in heavy looking, shiny clothing and pointy sticks. He figured that if he kept quiet, he wouldn't receive the brunt end of those things.

The cart stopped once again and the men came around to drag Natsu out from the back.

This was a mistake.

Natsu's entire body became engulfed with flames, causing the men to drop him immediately and whine over their injured hands. The rope of the net fell away as it burned, allowing Natsu to jump out and immediately and start running in the direction of where he was sure his home was.

There was a lot of yelling coming from behind him, but Natsu didn't dare look back. If he kept running, he could make it home. Igneel would be there for sure this time. He had no doubt in his mind about that. Perhaps Igneel was already coming after him after he learned that he was missing. Then, he could burn this entire place to the ground for all Natsu cared. If he never came into direct contact with another human ever again, it'd be too soon.

He was too focused on what laid ahead of him, that he failed to realize what laid in the present. Or, in this case, what laid on the ground.

He tripped and landed face first on the dirt.

"Ow!" An indignant voice shouted.

Natsu raised himself on his hands and knees, brushing the dirt from his face. He whipped his head toward whatever had sent him sprawling, prepared to burn it to ashes.

What he didn't prepare for was the blonde headed girl in an expensive looking dress glaring right back at him with large, brown eyes. She wasn't anything like Igneel had shown him in the books. Her hair reminded him of the sun that greeted him each morning. Her eyes held such depth and flashed with what he assumed was anger for being stepped on. Her anger, unlike the other humans', held no threat to him. It looked like she was ready to give him a good talking to rather than a beating.

"That wasn't very nice!" The girl whined. "You should watch where you're going."

Her accusation struck something inside of Natsu

He stood up, matching her height. "Well, what kind of dummy lies in the middle of the road, huh?!"

"I didn't expect some weirdo to run me over!"

"Who are you calling a weirdo?! If anyone's the weirdo here it's you!"

"Why you…" The girl's cheeks flushed with rage.

Natsu found the sight pretty funny and began laughing, which infuriated the girl even further.

"You look like a tomato." He giggled incessantly, pointing at her face.

The girl growled and surprised Natsu by tackling him to the ground.

"It's not okay to laugh at people!" She shouted as they rolled about in the dirt.

"Well, don't make funny faces and maybe I wouldn't laugh!" Natsu argued.

The two's tussle was cut short by a hand grabbing Natsu by the back of his shirt and lifting him off of the girl.

"Is this ruffian bothering you, princess?" A new voice asked.

"Erza!" The girl exclaimed as she stood up. "Thank goodness you came! This boy stepped on me and called me a weirdo!"

"Is that so?"

"You started it!" Natsu shouted. "You attacked me first!"

"Is this true, Lucy?"

The girl, whose name Natsu learned was Lucy, had the nerve to blush. "Only because he was laughing at me!"

Natsu had just about enough of being grabbed by strangers. He struggled and kicked away, but got absolutely nowhere.

"Hey!" He turned towards his captor. "Let me go before I-"

He came face to face without another pair of brown eyes, these ones stonier and less expressive than Lucy's. Her hair matched that of the man he encountered earlier at the gate only it was much longer and tied back into a single braid. She couldn't be more than one or two years older than Natsu.

The girl leaned forward, invading Natsu's space. "Before you what?" She asked.

He didn't know what it was about this girl, but her tone sent shivers down his spine. These girls confused him. From what Igneel had read to him about females, they were supposed to be dainty and dignified. These girls were rough and scary and were not at all the sweet, demure, and mild creatures he's heard about.

"Let him go, Erza." Lucy interjected, coming to his defense. "I think he's had enough."

Erza nodded. "As you wish, princess." She released Natsu's shirt, allowing him to run out of her reach and duck behind Lucy.

"You don't have to be afraid of Erza." Lucy attempted to sooth him. She was both amused and surprised by his cowardice. "She's really very nice once you get to know her."

As Natsu looked back into the red-headed girl's eyes that were trained directly on him, he somehow doubted that.

"By the way," Lucy continued. "You didn't tell us your name."

"Oh, me? I'm-"

"You!" A familiar voice shouted. All three children jumped and looked up towards the men running towards them.

"Oh no…" Natsu whispered fearfully.

Lucy looked back at him. "Hm? Do you know those men?"

"Quick! You gotta hide me before-"

But, it was too late. The men stood over the children, panting from exertion.

"You!" One of them pointed to Natsu who remained behind Lucy. "Get over here now!"

Natsu shook his head.

The man scoffed. "Hiding behind a little girl, huh? You really think that's going to stop us?"

The men advanced threateningly. Erza grasped the handle of the wooden sword at her hip while Lucy stood her ground in front of the boy she had the sudden urge to protect. She didn't know who these men were, but she was certain that they were not friends of his.

"What do you think you are doing with my daughter?"

Everyone seemed to freeze at those words. The two men straightened and stepped away. Erza slipped her sword back into its holster and stood tall. Lucy held back a sigh and looked dejectedly down at the ground. Natsu, however, was confused by the sudden shift of mood.

"Y-your Highness!" The men gulped in unison.

Natsu looked up. Standing there, looking powerful and intimidating was a blonde men in clothing that looked even more expensive than Lucy's dress. There was no doubt in his mind who this person was. Igneel had told him many stories of people such as this.

He was the king.

He looked down at the young people in front of him, his face revealing nothing but discontent. His eyes ran over Natsu and narrowed momentarily before looking back up at the trembling men.

"Answer my question." He demanded once again.

"We-we're sorry, King Judas." One the men offered. "We didn't recognize her as your daughter."

King Judas looked towards his daughter once again, taking in her hampered appearance and her latest dress covered in filth from the streets. He wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Lucy, come here."

Lucy did not hesitate to do as she was told. Though her head was down, Natsu could sense her sadness. But, for what reason, he did not know.

Lucy stopped once she reached her father's side.

"Lucy, can you tell me why you are covered in dirt?" He asked in an eerily quiet tone.

"I am sorry, father." Lucy replied. "I was only playing with my friends."

The king hummed and looked at Erza who stood with her back as straight as a line and her head held high.

"Ms. Scarlet." The King addressed her. Erza flinched slightly, but mostly kept her composure. "Isn't your father expecting you?"

"Yes, your Majesty." She answered quickly. She bowed and, without another word, she turned and marched off.

Lucy watched her go, longing for her to stay.

"And who might this be?" Natsu jumped once he realized that it was him the king was directing the questions towards.

"Um…" Natsu stumbled over what to say.

Thankfully, Lucy came to his rescue. "This is a new friend that I've made. He's from the village."

King Judas raised an eyebrow, knowing fully well when his only daughter was lying to him. Natsu, however stared at her as if she'd grown a second head. He had only just met her. What reason would she have to lie for him? Not that she was doing a very good job of it.

"That's not true, your Highness!" One of the men, who had kept quiet up until now, butt in. "We found him wondering in the forest alone. This might come as a shock, but we believe him to be…a mage."

King Judas' face did not change. "A mage? What would make you think such a thing?"

"He's a fire-breather, your Highness. He nearly burnt my face off before we finally caught him in that damned forest."

"A fire mage, huh." King Judas suddenly grinned, but it was no friendly. "Prove it to me."

"Certainly, your Majesty." One man grabbed Natsu by the arm, his fingers digging into his skin. "Do as you're told and show your power to the king, boy."

Natsu whimpered as the man's fingers dug even deeper.

"You're hurting him!" Lucy cried out, attempting to rush to Natsu's aid, but was halted by a firm hand on her shoulder.

The king nodded towards Natsu. "Go on."

As much as he didn't want to, Natsu found that he had little choice. He raised his available arm and, with a flick of the wrist, lit his entire hand on fire.

Lucy gasped, staring at the flames that had appeared out of nowhere. Natsu looked at her, watching as she gazed at his hand with nothing but sheer amazement.

King Judas' smile grew. "So, it's true."

"We wouldn't lie to you, your Majesty."

"I can see as much. Take him to my throne room. I will be with you presently."

The men nodded and began dragging Natsu behind them. Natsu found no use in fighting anymore. He could run, but he probably wouldn't get very far. He looked behind himself, seeing the girl already staring after him.

"Bye." He whispered.

Lucy raised her hand to wave.

"Lucy."

Lucy let her hand fall to her side. "Yes, father?"

"You are not to go anywhere near that boy again. Am I understood?"

Lucy hesitated before answering. "Yes, father."

"Good. See to it that you are bathed immediately. It's an embarrassment to look at you."

Lucy nodded and began heading back towards the castle, already dreading the scolding she was sure to receive from Aquarius for getting her new dress dirty.

Though she had promised that she would not go near Natsu again, she felt as if her life was already beginning to entangle itself with his in the strangest way possible.

* * *

 **And there it is, folks!**

 **So, what do you think?**

 **Do you like it? Do you love it? Do you want some more of it?**

 **I really feel as if this could go somewhere so I really hope you guys like it!**

 **Send me a review telling me what you think of it. ;)**

 **Until next time, my loves! Kisses!**


	2. Visits

**I'm so glad you guys like my new story! I really didn't expect it to get so much love after one chapter, but you guys surprised me once again! You're all beautiful people!**

 **Your reviews make me feel so fuzzy and warm inside ~(^.^~)**

 **Anyways, here's chapter two of My Guiding Flame**

* * *

 **Chapter 2:**

* * *

 **We were only kids we ran like water**

 **You dad said, 'Stay away from my daughter.'**

 **The sun was coming down when I said,**

 **'Can't you just believe?'**

 **"Last Train Home" -Ryan Star**

* * *

"Honestly, I can't imagine how someone who's supposed to be so poised could get so filthy." An irritated woman with long, aqua blue hair griped as she scrubbed Lucy's hair with a bit more force than necessary.

Lucy wouldn't have responded even if she was paying attention to anything Aquarius was saying. Her thoughts were with the boy she met only a couple hours ago. He seemed so strange and out of his element in the village. He was rude, that was for sure, but she grew tired of people treating her like she was so breakable and secretly appreciated his brashness. But, she was still curious as to where he came from and why her father showed so much interest in him. He never even showed that much interest towards his own daughter.

It was nothing but work with him. Any attempt to have some one-on-one time with him only ended in disaster. Lucy was certain that she was nothing but I nuisance to him. She didn't even know why she bothered trying to get into his good graces. She couldn't remember the last time he held her or told her that he loved her. Perhaps there was a time, but that had to be before…

No. She refused to think about it.

"Oi! Are you trying to piss me off?!" Aquarius snapped, breaking Lucy out of her reverie. "Listen to me when I'm talking to you."

"I'm sorry." Lucy said quietly.

Aquarius narrowed her eyes at the child. "What's going on with you today? Did Virgo tie your dress too tight again?"

Lucy shook her head. "No. That's not it."

Aquarius raised her eyebrows, but didn't push.

"Aquarius?"

"Yeah? What do you want?"

"How long have you worked in the castle?"

Aquarius hummed in thought. "I started working here a few weeks after you were born."

"Do you remember a time when father was ever….nice?"

Aquarius scoffed in a very unladylike fashion. "Can't say that I have. He's been a heartless bastard ever since I met him."

"Oh." Lucy mumbled and slid deeper into her bubble bath.

Aquarius sighed and stepped back from the large tub. "You're all done here. Virgo should be here any minute to help you get dressed for bed. I'll be back in about an hour to prepare your sheets and I don't want to see a single hair out of place on your head, got it?!"

"Y-yes, ma'am!" Lucy whimpered, ducking behind the edge of the tub.

Once Aquarius exited the room, Lucy stepped out of the tub and wrapped herself in a pink, fluffy towel. She combed through her hair as she waited for Virgo to come in with her nightgown.

As she waited, she couldn't help but wonder what the pink-haired boy was doing at that very moment.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Natsu didn't have a lot of experience with humans before he was kidnapped, or at all, but he decided that he didn't like them one bit. Ever since he's met humans he's been beaten, detained, mocked, and man-handled on more than one occasion. All he wanted to do was go home to Igneel and lie down on the warm, grassy plains of the meadow and forget this entire experience. But, it didn't seem as if that'd be happening anytime soon.

He stood silently in the throne room with two large men dressed in the shiny clothing on either side of him. Natsu wore metal circles around his wrists and ankles that kept him from running even if he had the energy to do so. The two men who had brought him here had been thrown out long ago, much to his delight. They weren't exactly happy about that.

At long last, King Judas came sweeping into the room, receiving respective bows from those he passed before assuming his position at the throne in front of Natsu.

Judas smirked at the boy. "Well, this has certainly come as a shock. Natsu, was it?"

Natsu looked towards the ground before nodding hesitantly.

"You certainly are not something that should be, Natsu. Mages are supposed to be nonexistent. Did you know that?"

Natsu shook his head slowly.

"I didn't think you would." Judas laughed without humor. "You claimed that you were raised in a forest by a dragon, correct?"

Another nod.

"Dragons are supposed to be extinct, as well." The king shook his head sadly. "It seems as if nothing is as I thought it was."

Judas stood from his throne and began descending down the steps, advancing steadily towards where Natsu stood.

"You see, Natsu," He went on. "Nothing happens in this kingdom without me knowing about it. That's the way it always has been. So, it's a wonder that not only you managed to survive in my forests for over six years, but you've also been residing with a dragon. And not just any dragon. A fire dragon. Do you see why this might bother me Natsu?"

Natsu shrugged.

Judas huffed a sigh. "Not much of a conversationalist, are you? That's fine. Better a silent genius than a loud idiot, I always say. But, never mind that for now. Do you want to know why I'm so interested in you joining my court, Natsu?"

Natsu made no move to reply in any way.

The king kneeled down, grabbing Natsu's chin and jerking his head up so he could meet his eyes.

"Because you have something that I want." Judas whispered disconcertingly. "Do you know what other kings wouldn't give to have a mage such as you battling in their armies? Battling in their wars? They'd be invincible. That's exactly what I want for myself and now here you are. With someone with your power in my army, no one would ever oppose me. I'll be able to stay on top for years to come. Do you understand, Natsu?"

Even if Natsu wanted to respond, the king's grip on his chin was too strong. The king released him, much to his relief.

"I didn't expect you to. You've been awfully sheltered in that forest of yours, haven't you? Well, that ends now. I apologize, Natsu, but it seems as if you won't be seeing that dragon of yours for some time."

Natsu's eyes widened, filling with tears that he refused to flow freely.

"Take him to the dungeon." Judas barked at the guards who immediately grabbed each of Natsu's arm. The king looked down and smiled at the boy, but it was not at all friendly. "Your training starts tomorrow so be sure to get plenty of rest."

The guards began to drag Natsu off, which was when his voice suddenly started to work again.

"No!" He shouted and began kicking and thrashing. "LET ME GO! I WANT TO GO HOME! YOU'D BETTER LET ME GO RIGHT NOW BEFORE I GET _REALLY_ MAD!"

The look on the king's face as it got farther and farther away raised goosebumps on Natsu's arms.

"Silly boy." The king chuckled. "This is your home now. You'd better get used to it."

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

It was way past Lucy's bedtime, but she just couldn't sleep. Aquarius had tucked her in hours ago and she still lied in the bed, her eyes wide open.

The thought about where the boy was and what he doing kept flitting through her mind, keeping her from a peaceful rest. Was he even still in the castle? Had her father sent him away or worse…killed him?

Lucy had to know.

She kicked the covers away from her small body and pulled her slippers onto her feet before jumping to the floor. She stopped at the door, pressing her ear against the wood to listen for any sounds. When she heard nothing, she opened it slightly, but enough for her to see through. When she was certain the coast was clear, she slipped out of the crack and closed the door soundlessly behind her.

This wouldn't be the first time she snuck out of bed, but it was the first time it had been for a greater cause than snatching an extra cookie out of the kitchen.

The tiptoed down the corridor keeping her eyes and ears open at all times. The castle was large, but she had learned all of its passageways and secrets through her years of exploring. She could probably get to where she needs to be with her eyes closed at this point.

It was until she reached the foyer when she heard voices heading her way. She ducked behind a pillar, thankful for her small stature.

It was only a couple of guards conversing lightly back and forth. But, one word passed their lips that grabbed her attention.

"So, did you hear about the mage that the king is going to have trained? I didn't think mages still lived."

"They aren't _supposed_ to be alive, but I guess we were wrong. They're keeping the kid down in the dungeons for now."

The first guard shook his head sympathetically. "Poor kid. I wouldn't want to be him."

The men passed by, completely oblivious to the little girl hiding behind a pillar. She stepped out of the shadows once the men were out of sight.

She knew where the dungeon was, but it wasn't particularly her favorite place in the castle. It was murky and creepy, but if _he_ was down there, she'd have to swallow her fear. Lucy didn't know where this protectiveness was coming from, but her mother had always told her to follow her heart and, right now, it was telling her to go see him.

Lucy had to sneak down a winding staircase to get to the dungeon and immediately pulled her shawl closer to herself as they cold air hit her exposed skin. There were no signs of life from what she can see so she ventured further into the darkness, squinting her eyes as she went.

She reached the very last cage in the row and was able to make out the shape of a huddled up figure in the corner of the cell. It had to be him.

"H-hello?" She whispered, but the way her voice bounced off the walls and into the empty space made it sound louder than it was. The shape flinched at the sound, but made no other movements.

"Are you the boy from earlier?" She tried again. "The one who called me weird?"

Before she could blink, a sudden light filled the cell and she was able to look at the surprised face of the boy. In his hand was a ball of flame. The light only seemed to accentuate his peculiar, pink hair and bizarrely colored eyes.

"What are you doing down here?" He asked. "You're going to get yourself into trouble."

"I-I'm sorry! I was just…uh, that is….I wanted to make sure you were still here."

Natsu blinked slowly at her before a bitter scowl crossed over his features. "As if I had a choice to leave. It doesn't look like I'll be leaving any time soon."

Lucy cocked her head in confusion. "What do you mean? Why wouldn't you be able to leave?"

Natsu contemplated telling the princess about her father's scheme, but didn't fully know whether or not he could trust her yet. She was the king's daughter, after all, and he had just recently met her. He wasn't sure if she'd just run off and repeat any information he might leek about himself to the almighty King Judas. Natsu decided not to take his chances.

He turned his head away and mumbled, "S'not important. Just go away."

"Yes, it is!" Lucy argued, shuffling closer to the cell. "He's not making you do anything…bad…Is he?"

"I don't know yet. I start my training tomorrow." Not if Igneel came before then to take him back home.

Lucy's eyes softened at the sad look on the boy's face. "You must miss your home very much, don't you?"

Natsu didn't reply or even look at her.

"Your parents must have been pretty powerful mages to give you magic like that, huh?"

"Dunno." Natsu shrugged. "Never met 'em."

"No? Then who raised you?"

"My dad."

"But, you just said-"

"I meant Igneel. He found me when I was a baby and raised me in a forest. He might not be related to me, but he's still my dad."

"In a forest?" Lucy repeated. "How were you able to survive with another human alone in the forest?"

"Igneel's not a human!" Natsu snapped, sounding offended by her remark. "He's a dragon! Duh!"

He made it sound as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, but judging by Lucy's gaping mouth and wide eyes, it wasn't exactly a normality amongst humans.

"What?" Natsu growled. "Are you going to call me a liar, too?"

Lucy shook her head. "Uh, no. I just didn't know-"

"That dragons existed?" He finished for her. "Do you know how many times I've heard that today? He's real, I tell ya! He raised me ever since I was a baby and taught me everything I know! He fed me, gave me clothes, taught me how to walk, talk, read and write! We did everything together. I couldn't imagine a better dad so don't you dare tell me that he doesn't exist because he does!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Lucy offered, holding her hands up in front of her. "I'm sure he was a great father." Natsu's face suddenly changed once she said this. His face scrunched up strangely, but he turned away once again before Lucy could get a good look. "Did…did something happen to him?"

"No! He's fine! But, don't expect me to stay here for much longer because he'll be here to get me any time now. You'll see!"

Lucy sat back, saddened by the desperation in his voice. Something had happened to Igneel that has Natsu worried and scared, but he didn't seem to know what is was. She had no doubt that if the dragon loved Natsu as much as he claimed he did, he would be here to help him and take him back to their home.

But, if that were true, what was taking him so long?

Lucy stood up, dusting off her nightgown. "Well, I hope he does come. I'm sure you wouldn't want to be separated from him for a long time."

Natsu had so response to that, but narrowed his dark, green eyes at the blonde in curiosity and wariness.

"If you're still here by tomorrow night…" Lucy continued, avoiding his eyes. She hoped the darkness hid her blush. "Maybe I'll come and visit you again?"

"Don't count on it." Natsu huffed. He looked towards the girl, noticing the slight hurt in her eyes. He sighed, dropping his head into his open hands. "Do whatever you want. I'm stuck in a cage. It's not as if I could run you off even if I wanted to."

Lucy smiled gently. He didn't say it in so many words, but he wanted to see her again as well. "Well then, goodnight, Natsu."

When he didn't answer, Lucy took it as her cue to leave. She picked up her skirt and began climbing back up the twisted staircase, oblivious to the pair of dark eyes that followed her every movement.

* * *

 **Yay! Chapter 2 is complete! It took longer than I thought it would, but I should be able to get more out over this weekend and next week since it'll be Thanksgiving break and I'll have nothing else going on =^.^=**

 **Favorite and follower if you like my stuff and send me a review if you wanna. I'd really appreciate it!**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses!**


	3. Training

**Huzzah for Thanksgiving. Get ready to get fat with relatives that you hardly ever talk to anymore and have to make awkward conversation with! Yaaaaay!**

 **I've noticed plenty of errors in the first chapter that I may have overlooked, but I went back and fixed them! Yay! Just a reminder, I am the only one involved in this story so I do all of the writing and editing myself and sometimes I don't have enough time and end up posting chapters without looking over them twice, leading to mistakes. I am sorry for this, but please bear with me.**

 **Anyways, here's chapter three of My Guiding Flame**

* * *

 **Chapter 3:**

* * *

 **They will not force us**

 **They will stop degrading us**

 **They will not control us**

 **We will be victorious**

 **"Uprising" -Muse**

* * *

It seemed as if Natsu had only just fallen asleep when he was awoken by the pounding of feet against the concrete floor of the dungeon. He had only a dirty, bare mattress to rest on, but he found it surprisingly more comfortable than forest floor he was used to.

At least three guards stopped at the door to his cell as Natsu was sitting up. He wiped his eyes tiredly.

It was only then that he realized that he was still there. Meaning, Igneel hadn't come for him last night.

This fact automatically put Natsu in a rather stoic mood. Still, he held out hope that Igneel would be here very soon. He just had to go along with the king's deluded schemes up until then to make him think that he was actually on his side. Then, he'd go back home with Igneel, or maybe they'll go somewhere else where no one would be able to find them again.

Natsu liked the sound of that. Just he and Igneel once again without anyone else interfering.

Even so, his mind for some reason wen to Lucy. She seemed genuinely concerned when she came to visit him last night, but she just might be lulling him into a false sense of security.

Because of this, Natsu came up with a plan that will keep him detached from all of this:

Don't trust anyone.

Seemed easy enough.

The guards had opened the cell door, gesturing for Natsu to come out and follow them. He did as he was told, walking in the center of the group and keeping his eyes down.

They led him into the throne room where the king was already sitting, awaiting his arrival.

King Judas turned his head to smile at him. "Good morning, Natsu. Did you rest well?"

Natsu raised his shoulders then let them drop. He figured the less he talked, the better.

"I hope you did." The king continued. "Because today is the start of your training. I called in one of my very best soldiers to get you started. I don't assume he'll be here so soon, but it doesn't hurt to look, right? Shall we go to the courtyard to check?"

Natsu resisted the urge to roll his eyes. As if he had a choice. He and the guards followed behind the king as he led them outside. Natsu stared at the king's back, wondering how someone so cold and intimidating could be related to someone like Lucy. She seemed completely opposite. Then again, he didn't know her all that well.

Plenty of people were out that morning. Guards were either loitering around, chatting with each other, or training with practice dummies. There were also various servants going from place to place, looking haggard and virtually unkempt. There was one woman, however, with what seemed like a permanent scowl on her face as she walked across the courtyard in her blue, sparkly dress that swirled around her feet like waves. As dignified as she looked, she also seemed royally pissed off. Natsu didn't want to get on her bad side.

His eyes roamed around until they landed on a large group of soldiers surrounding something.

The king smirked. "Seems as though he's already here."

The crowd split as the king walked towards it. In the center was a very tall, muscular man with slicked back, auburn hair and an ever so present smirk on his face. He looked towards the king, his smirk slipping a bit.

"Nice to see you again, your Highness." The man said then bowed at the waist.

"Gildarts." Judas recognized him. "I didn't think I'd be seeing so soon. I've been told that you had previous obligations in the Phoenix Mountains."

Gildarts rubbed the back of his neck, laughing nervously. "Nah. I was actually nearby when you sent for me yesterday. I was going to leave last night, but I figured you wouldn't call me unless it was an emergency."

Judas nodded. "You were correct to assume that. I have a job that no one else but you could ever hope to fulfill."

"I'm listening."

The king reached behind himself, gripping Natsu by his shoulder and forcing him to stand in front. Gildarts looked down at the boy then back at the king, raising an eyebrow.

"Would you believe me if I told you that this boy is a mage?"

Gildarts' eyes widened slightly before he smiled slightly. "Considering all of the things I've seen in my travels, I think I would. Is that why you sent for me?"

"Yes. I've decided to include him in my army, but he needs to be properly trained before he could even think about going into battle."

"Battle?" Gildarts repeated incredulously. "What battle? No one ever said anything about a battle?"

The soldiers still dawdling around turned to look over after hearing Gildarts' raised voice.

The king's eyes tightened.

"Gildarts, if we are to continue this conversation, I'd rather we do it in a more private setting."

Gildarts nodded. He looked back at Natsu, smiling easily at him. He walked over and kneeled in front of him.

"So, you're a mage, huh?" He questioned. Natsu nodded. "Sounds awesome. Why don't you and I get to know each other a little better since we'll be working together now?"

Natsu didn't know how to reply. He looked up at the king, seeking approval. Judas nodded then walked off with his guards following closely behind him.

Gildarts nodded his head, indicating for Natsu to follow him. They walked all the way around the perimeter of the castle. In the back was a dense forest that instantly reminded Natsu of home. He thought they were going to stop there, but Gildarts continued walking, slipping through the clutter of trees and shrubs. Natsu followed, having an easier time getting around because of his size. He kept close to the larger man, not wanting to be separated then having to find a way out on his own.

At last, they came to a clearing. Gildarts stopped at the edge, but Natsu couldn't resist adventuring further, staring with awe at the open scene. The grass looked so nice that Natsu couldn't resist taking his shoes off and allowing the blades to slip through the openings between his toes. He took in everything. The soft, green grass under his feet, the blue, yellow, red, and purple flowers all around him stretching to the horizon. The morning sun tinted everything gold. The only sounds that could be heard was the singing of the birds and insects flying about. The entire atmosphere of calmness and peace had Natsu feeling more at ease than he had ever felt.

"I used to come here all the time." Gildarts spoke, interrupting the silence. "I heard this was the queen's favorite spot back when she was still alive. I came here once only to find the princess sitting alone and bawling her eyes out."

"You mean Lucy?" Natsu blurted out without thinking. He immediately covered his mouth, but it was too late to take it back.

Gildarts raised his eyebrows at him. "You're referring to the princess pretty casually. Have you met her before?"

Natsu averted his eyes. "Uh…yeah, we met before."

Gildarts looked as if he wanted to press further, but let it go. "So, yeah, she was pretty pissed at me for invading her mother's favorite place. But, just like her mom, she was pretty nice about it. She told me that I could train here whenever I want as long as I don't damage anything. I don't think she'd be upset about us being here. Just don't wreck anything, okay?"

Natsu nodded.

Gildarts smiled and shook his head. "You don't have to watch what you say around me, kid. I'm not going to use anything against you. I got nothin' to gain from it."

Natsu looked up at Gildarts, narrowing his eyes as he searched his face for any dishonesty. When he found none, he smiled.

Gildarts walked over and patted him on the back. "Atta boy! Let's get started, shall we?"

Hours later, Natsu was beyond exhausted. He never expected to find someone of Gildarts' age to be so quick and strong. Igneel had never pushed him as far as Gildarts did for the entire morning and afternoon. Gildarts didn't even bat as eyelash when Natsu revealed his fire magic. Natsu felt a little bit discouraged up until Gildarts allowed him to start throwing punches while using his magic. The only targets Natsu was ever allowed to use were trees. He was never able to test out his powers on a moving target. Gildarts never pointed anything out about Natsu's abilities, only silently evaluating his every move.

He was bent over, placing his hands on his knees as he panted. Gildarts didn't even break a sweat the entire time.

"Not bad, kid." Gildarts complimented. "Your moves are pretty sloppy, but there's potential. Tomorrow we'll talk about actually _hitting_ your target."

Natsu growled, throwing a kick towards the man, which he easily dodged.

"Don't get cocky, kid." Gildarts chuckled. "You'd better get back to the castle before they come out to get you. I don't think the princess would appreciate a bunch of guards trampling over her pretty flowers."

Natsu smiled, thinking back to the other day when Lucy tackled him for trampling over _her_. Gildarts noticed his smile, but chose not to comment on it.

"We'll see each other tomorrow. Same time. Same place."

Natsu nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mister…"

"Just call me Gildarts, kid." He winked.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Natsu was beginning to hate the dungeons. It took a lot for him to get cold, but he couldn't help but shiver and huddle in the corner of his cell. The mattress may have been comfortable, but it did little to offer any warmth. There was very little light and, even with his heightened senses, it was very creepy. He was so used to having someone there with them at night that being alone in this place filled him with a great sense of unease.

On top of this, it was getting very late and Lucy still wasn't there. Perhaps she thought he was already gone like he said he would be, but surely there would be quite a ruckus if a giant dragon showed up to bust him out of the castle. Perhaps she figured that he wasn't worth the trouble and was purposely staying away.

Natsu didn't want to be upset over it, but he couldn't help but feel a sense of loss at the thought of having to go without his only possible friend.

He jumped up suddenly when his ears picked up the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. They were much too soft to be one of the guards.

Sure enough, Natsu's eyes made out Lucy's small self making her way down. She held something in her hands that he couldn't make out.

She stopped at his cell, smiling gently. "You're still here."

Natsu couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Yeah, I am."

Lucy's smile grew. She kneeled down, pulling the object she had earlier in front of her. "I brought some things for you."

Natsu smelled something interesting and couldn't help but crawl over until he was only a few feet away from Lucy, only the bars of the cell separating them.

The object turned out to be a bag, which Lucy reached into and pulled something out. It was brown and flat except for a slightly raised top. Natsu made out bits of something black in it. He didn't know what it was, but it smelled delicious.

"Want one?" Lucy offered, sticking it through the gaps in the cell. "The cook baked them earlier today. I'm not allowed to, but I snuck a few out of the kitchen."

Natsu took the thing out of her hand, turning it over and over as he analyzed it. "What is it?"

"It's a cookie." Lucy pointed out, staring at him. "Have you never eaten a cookie before?"

Natsu shook his head. "No. I've only eaten fish or wild boars in the forest. But, sometimes, Igneel would bring back a whole cow and cook it for us."

Lucy wrinkled her nose. "Well, I think you'll like it. They're chocolate chip. My favorite!"

Natsu looked down at the cookie again, bringing it up to his nose and taking in a big whiff of it. He decided it was safe enough and took a small bite out of it. His eyes widened.

"Mmmm!" He hummed loudly, stuffing the entire cookie into his mouth. "This is the best thing I ever tasted!"

Lucy giggled, taking her time with her own cookie. "I thought you might like it. What kind of stuff do they feed you down here?"

Natsu shrugged indifferently. He snatched another cookie out of Lucy's hand once she offered it. "I dunno. Some kind of mushy stuff. It doesn't taste very good."

Lucy shook her head sympathetically then smiled at him. "Well, I'll try to bring down whatever good stuff I find in the kitchen to you when I can, okay?"

Natsu nodded enthusiastically.

Lucy stayed a bit longer, finding that sweets loosened Natsu's lips. He talked about Gildarts and training in Lucy's meadow, reassuring her that they didn't ruin anything then went on to talk about his training. Lucy nodded along, happy that he was trusting and opening up to her more.

After a while, both of their eyes started to droop.

Lucy yawned hugely before standing up. "It was nice talking to you, Natsu, but I'd better go before someone comes looking for me." She turned to leave, but stopped when she remembered something. "Oh! I almost forgot! I brought you something else."

She kneeled back down, rustling through the bag before producing a fluffy, pink blanket. "I thought you might be cold down here so I brought you a blanket from my room."

She handed it to Natsu and he took it gratefully. Lucy giggled when he wrapped it around his shoulder. He looked up at her in question.

"It matches your hair." She laughed, pointing at him.

"Hey, I thought you said it wasn't nice to laugh at people!" Natsu growled.

Lucy put a hand over her mouth, trying to quell her giggles. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

Natsu huffed and crossed his arms.

"I'll go now. But, I'll see you tomorrow?"

Natsu pouted and looked away. "Maybe."

Lucy gathered her things, waved, and began her trek back up the steps. Once she was out of sight, Natsu walked over to the mattress and plopped down on it, wrapping the blanket securely around himself. He pressed his nose into the softness of it, recognizing the sweetened scent of the blonde haired girl that refused to leave him be.

His lips curled into a smile before he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 **Say it with me: Aaaaawwww!**

 **So, the king is hiding something, we've met Gildarts, Natsu trained, and he's beginning to trust Lucy more. This is getting good if I do say so myself.**

 **Just wait until it gets to the REALLY good stuff.**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses!**


	4. Boys and Girls

**I have a killer headache and I'm running out of Ibuprofen.**

 **Yay!**

 **One more day until Thanksgiving break and then I'll finally be back home!**

 **Even more yay!**

 **I rewrote this chapter so many times because nothing I was doing seemed to be right. I had more on Gildarts planned, but I decided to save that for future chapters. Sorry about that :C**

 **But, there's more NALU in this chapter! Huzzah!**

 **Please enjoy and tell me what you think.**

 **Without further ado, here is chapter four of My Guiding Flame**

* * *

 **Chapter 4:**

* * *

 **Girls don't like boys**

 **Girls like cars and money**

 **Boys will laugh at girls**

 **When they're not funny**

 **"Girls & Boys" -Good Charlotte**

* * *

The next morning was the same as the other. Natsu woke up to the footsteps coming down the stairs. He had enough sense to ball up the blanket Lucy gave him and shoved it underneath the mattress before any of the guards could see it. If they did, questions would be asked as to where he got it and from whom and he didn't want himself or Lucy getting into any trouble.

He was escorted to the throne room where he was to meet Gildarts then go off to train. Even though Natsu didn't know much at all about the man, he looked forward to their training session that day.

Once they got there, however, Gildarts seemed to be arguing with the king. Gildarts looked positively livid while the king wore an eerily calm expression and spoke in soft tones, suggesting that Gildarts do the same.

"How can I be calm about this?!" Gildarts shouted. Natsu looked at him with surprise. He couldn't imagine what would put such an easy-going man in such an infuriated state. "You should have told me before I agreed to train the kid! Does he know what you are planning?"

"In theory." The king mused. "He knows about my main goal, but he needn't know all of the details."

"You have got to be kidding! He's just a kid! You can't expect him to do what you are planning for him."

"I can and I will. Besides, it's not supposed to occur for years to come. I have consulted the oracle and she claimed that it won't be anytime soon. The little monster will grow stronger in time with your help then he'll be ready. It's all for the greater good, Gildarts. It'll be worth it in the end. That is, of course, if you choose to stick to the plan."

Gildarts' eyes tightened. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before his normally calm demeanor was back in place.

"I'll still do it." Gildarts agreed. "But, this isn't something I can do alone."

"Oh?" The king's eyebrows shot up. "What did you have in mind?"

"I have someone else that will help, but I have to contact him first. Are you willing to wait until he can come?"

The king sighed then nodded.

Gildarts tossed is duffel bag over his shoulder and turned to leave. "I'll be off then. I should be back no later than tomorrow night. Send Natsu my regards."

"Gildarts, wait!" Natsu cried out, running up to the man. Gildarts halted and looked over to Natsu, his expression different. "Where are you going? Where 'posed to be training today!"

Gildarts exhaled noisily before kneeling down and ruffling Natsu's hair. "Sorry, kid, but I'll have to take a rain check. I'll be back tomorrow, okay?"

"No! It's not okay! What am I 'posed to do 'til you get back?"

"Go play out in the courtyard to occupy yourself. That is, if you're allowed to." Gildarts threw a pointed glare toward the king.

"Fine." Judas waved him off. "Just don't step foot outside of the castle walls."

With one last smile, Gildarts exited the room. Natsu stared after him until he was completely out of sight. He couldn't help but feel disappointed. He didn't have much to look forward to nowadays and his only source of entertainment had just walked out the door. He didn't have anyone else to talk to besides Lucy, but he didn't think King Judas would be very happy if Natsu started scouring the castle in search for his young daughter. Instead, Natsu decided to do what Gildarts told him and went out to the courtyard.

Not many people were out that morning. When he first came here, there was a plethora of humans roaming about the castle. He was secretly relieved that he didn't have to deal with crowds or the stares he was sure to get for being the only mage in all the world let alone the kingdom.

He walked around for a few minutes before he grew bored and sat down in the dirt. He leaned back on his hands and stared up at the sky, finding animals or other figures in the shapes of the clouds. Eventually, his hands grew tired of holding himself up and he settled for lying flat on his back and watching the fluffy, white clouds drift by.

He didn't know how long he remained there, but his eyes eventually began to droop. He yawned and allowed his eyes to close shut. It wasn't as if he had anything better to do.

As Natsu slept, he dreamed.

" _Igneel, what's that." Natsu pointed at a picture in the book he was previously holding upside down before Igneel righted for him._

 _Igneel cracked one eye open as he was halfway asleep and looked over to what Natsu was referring to._

"That, _" Igneel chuckled. "is what we call a girl."_

 _Natsu cocked his head. He turned the book over and over, looking at 'the girl' from different angles. It didn't look like him, that's for sure. It had much longer hair, feather-like eyelashes, big lips, and big, round things on its chest. "What's a 'girl'?"_

" _A girl is the opposite of a boy." Igneel yawned. "They're human just like boys, but they can do things that boys can't."_

" _Like what?"_

 _Igneel's eyes widened and he scratched his cheek nervously. "Er...I'll tell you when you're older. You're much too young right now."_

" _Oh." Natsu accepted this answer, since it was the reply he got from the majority of questions he asked his father._

 _Natsu went back to looking over the pictures since he had not yet learned to read. It was quiet for a long moment and Igneel began to doze off once again. That is, until Natsu decided to jump onto his large snout and hold the book over his eyes._

" _What are these things?!" Natsu questioned enthusiastically as he pointed at the girls' breasts on the page._

 _Igneel sighed resignedly. "You'll learn about that when you're older, as well."_

Natsu woke up to a tickling sensation on his nose. He unconsciously reached up to rub it and someone very nearby giggled.

His eyes popped open at the sound and he sat up quickly. At least, he tried to, but something with a hard head had been hovering directly over him which caused him to hit his forehead and fall back onto the ground as he placed his hands over his suddenly throbbing head.

"Ow!" A familiar voice shouted. He looked up to see no one other than the princess sitting beside him, rubbing at her forehead just as he was.

"Lucy!" He exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Lucy winced. "My piano lesson ended so I had nothing else to do so I came out here and saw you. You were asleep for an awfully long time, you know."

Natsu looked at her strangely. "You were just sitting here staring at me?"

Lucy blushed brightly and averted her eyes. "D-don't say it like that! You make it sound creepy. I was only bored, okay?"

"Bored enough to stare at me while I was sleeping?" Natsu leaned over until his face was inches from hers, a sly smirk on his face.

Lucy's faced turned an interesting shade of red due to Natsu's near proximity to her. If she felt so inclined, she could count all of the different colors his eyes held.

She leaned back to put some space in between them. "S-stop making it sound p-perverted! It wasn't like that! I just saw you lying here and decided to wait until you woke up and I just _happened_ to be looking at you when you woke up so-"

Lucy continued on with her ranting, but Natsu wasn't listening. He found his eyes descending down Lucy's form until they settled on her chest. He thought back to his dream which wasn't a dream at all but a memory. He recalled Igneel calling what he pointed out in the book a girl. He never got to learn what the round things on the girls' chest were. He looked from Lucy's face to right back down at her chest. Lucy was a girl, right? But, her chest was completely flat unlike the girl in the picture. Natsu wondered what it would be like to touch them.

He decided to test it out.

Lucy paused mid-rant once she felt something pressing against her chest. She looked down and witnessed Natsu's hot little hands resting against her undeveloped upper body. They sat like that for a few seconds before Natsu's actions registered in Lucy's brain.

 _THWACK!_

"OUCH!" Natsu howled in pain, reaching up to touch his injured cheek until to pull away when his touch only made it sting more. He glared at Lucy who was giving him a similar, murderous stare as she crossed her arms over her torso. "What'd you do that for?!"

"What'd you do _that_ for?!" Lucy retorted angrily.

Natsu huffed. "I was just looking for your round things. The girl in the picture I saw had _way_ bigger ones than you."

"Of course they're not big! I'm only seven, stupid!"

"That's no excuse."

Lucy growled. "You don't know the first thing about girls, do you?!"

Natsu shrugged innocently. "Not really."

Lucy paused. "Wait…really?"

Natsu shook his head.

Lucy let her hands fall into her lap. "What _do_ you know about girls?"

Natsu shrugged again. "Not much. Igneel only told me that they're the opposite of boys and they can do things boys can't."

"There's much more to girls than that!" Lucy suddenly stood up with a determined smile. She reached down to grasp Natsu's hand and pulled him up. "Come with me. There's a few things I need to teach you."

Natsu looked uncertain, but allowed himself to be pulled along by the blonde haired girl.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

The room Lucy pulled Natsu into was what Lucy called a 'classroom', but it looked more like a small library. The walls were covered to the ceiling with bookshelves except for a large map of Fiore completely covering another wall. There were only two desks in the middle of the room, once of which Natsu was pushed into.

"Wait here." Lucy demanded.

Natsu watched as she expertly moved about the room as she searched for something. She pulled over a wheeled latter to one of the bookshelves and began climbing up. She stopped at the tenth shelf up and pulled out a book.

Once she hopped down from the latter, she ran back over to where Natsu was sitting and slammed it down on the desk.

"This," She gestured to the book. "is an entire encyclopedia on the female anatomy!"

Natsu blinked slowly at her.

"I'm going to teach you all about the female body and how it works! I've learned so much about it already from my teacher!"

Natsu never got the chance to decline before Lucy started getting into it. She cracked the book open and began spouting a bunch of stuff that seemed like absolute nonsense and gibberish to Natsu. Words such as 'uterus' and 'menstruation' just went into one ear and out the other. He sat silently, though, just looking at Lucy. She seemed so happy to be teaching him about this stuff that he resisted interrupting her. Her eyes shined brightly as she read over the complicated words in the book and he could hear the enthusiasm in her voice. Natsu slouched in his chair, folding his arms on the desk then resting his head on them.

Lucy snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Natsu, are you listening?"

"Nope."

Lucy sighed and held up the book, pointing to a picture of a nude woman, specifically her breasts. "Are these what you were referring to earlier?"

"Uh, yeah."

"They're called breasts." Lucy explained as she sat back in her seat. "Girls have them to produce milk for when they have babies."

"Like cows?"

"Yeah, sort of."

"So why don't boys have breasts?"

"Because boys can't have babies."

"Why not?"

Natsu wished he hadn't asked as Lucy's eyes brightened up again and she went right back to the book.

He sighed. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

 **Aww, Lucy's teaching Natsu about girls!**

 **The king is keeping a secret.**

 **Something very big is coming.**

 **Who is Gildarts off to get?**

 **Find out all of this and more in the next chapters of My Guiding Flame!**

 **(Sorry about the short chapter)**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses!**


	5. Monster

**I'm so happy that I'm getting more favorites and followers everyday! You guys are amazing and I'm so happy that you like it.**

 **In this chapter, I will be introducing a couple of new characters. Have fun guessing who it is! Though, I do have to admit, they pretty…cold. *laughs nervously***

 **Alright, I'm done. Here's chapter five of My Guiding Flame.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 5:**

* * *

 **I feel it deep within**

 **It's just beneath the skin**

 **I must confess that I feel like a monster**

 **I hate what I've become**

 **The nightmare's just begun**

 **I must confess that I feel like a monster**

 **"Monster" -Skillet**

* * *

Lucy decided not to visit him that night since they had practically spent the entire day together. Natsu was a little disappointed that she wouldn't be bringing him more cookies, but was immensely grateful that she called her little impromptu lesson quits once it began to get dark. Despite this, he found that he learned a lot about girls. More than he'd like to know, in fact. But, he was grateful that _someone_ was there to teach him things when Igneel wasn't.

Natsu was irritated. Another day went by and there was still no sign of Igneel. Seeds of doubt started to take place in his head and he couldn't help but wonder if his father was ever going to come and get him.

No. He had to be patient and wait it out. Igneel has to have a plan. He always did.

Once the guards locked Natsu in his cell that night, he pulled out Lucy's blanket and wrapped himself up.

Sleep didn't come easily, though. His eyes remained open as he remembered something the king had said earlier in the throne room while he was arguing with Gildarts.

" _The little monster will grow stronger in time with your help and then he'll be ready."_

That's what the king had said and Natsu knew Judas was referring to him.

" _The little monster…"_

Natsu repeated in his head over and over again. Igneel had read him plenty of books about evil, ugly, creepy monsters that ate people, hid in sewers and underneath children's beds. Natsu didn't believe himself to be a monster. Sure, he wasn't exactly like other humans, but he wasn't a monster either.

Natsu sat up and looked down at his hands. Monsters had long, scratchy claws that they used to tear people's throats out. Natsu had long nails as well. In a panic, he reached up to his mouth to touch his teeth. Monsters had sharp teeth that they used to chew up children. Natsu had those as well. With shaky hands, Natsu reached up to touch the top of his head, gripping his hair tightly. Monsters were covered in grimy, dirty hair that quite possibly had leftover blood clumped in it from all of the people that they ate. Natsu breathed a sigh in relief. He had hair, but not nearly as much as the monsters in his story. Still, three out of four did little to ease his anxiety.

He wondered what other people thought when they saw him. Lucy didn't seem to think he was a monster. Then again, Lucy was a weirdo whose judgement shouldn't be trusted.

Natsu laid back on the mattress, curling into a tight ball and covering his head with the blanket. It took a while, but he eventually fell into a fitful slumber. And yet, the same words continued to flit through his mind even as he slept.

" _The little monster…"_

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Natsu was groggy in the morning, but still managed to stuff the blanket under the mattress once again before any of the guards could see. He was hoping to see Gildarts again today and began following the guards once again without protest.

Gildarts may have said that he wouldn't be back until that night, but there he was in the throne room. Only, he wasn't alone. The king wasn't there but Gildarts was talking to another man.

The man was just as intimidating as Gildarts with his large size and scars that looked like they were very painful when they were first inflicted. His eyes were black yet shining with mirth as he laughed at something Gildarts had said. His hair was short and styled into a number of spiky strains pointing backwards with some prominent spikes topping his forehead. He had a very large scar stemming from his hairline down to his left ear which seemed to be fairly new. Both of his ears were adorned with silver-colored earrings, consisting of a ring with a little chain ending in a cross pendent.

He was speaking to Gildarts about something when his eyes cut over to where Natsu was standing.

"Is this him?" The man asked and nodded over to Natsu.

Gildarts turned and his face immediately lit up in the easy smile of his.

"Gildarts!" Natsu exclaimed and ran over. He stopped just short of running into Gildarts' legs and accepted a friendly pat on the head from his mentor. "Where've you been? I want to train!"

Gildarts chuckled. He stood up straight and gestured towards the other man. "Natsu, this is my old friend, Silver Fullbuster. He's going to be helping me train you."

"Yo." Natsu waved.

"Nice to meet you, Natsu." Silver smiled down at him. "Gildarts has told me a lot about you."

Natsu looked up at Gildarts curiously, the man merely shrugging nonchalantly.

Natsu saw a flash of something dark out of the corner of his eye. He looked over just in time to see Silver's cape flutter. He narrowed his eyes and leaned to the side as he tried to see what it was.

"Gray, would you come out?" Silver called, looking behind himself. "There's nothing to be scared of."

"I ain't scared of nothing!" A boy about Natsu's age shouted back as he stepped out from the safety of his father's shadow. He looked like a miniature Silver only his hair was shaggier and he wore a cross pendent around his neck and not on an earring.

Silver sighed patiently and pushed the boy to stand in front of him. "Natsu, this is my son, Gray. Sorry about earlier. He's a little shy around people he doesn't know."

"That's not true!" Gray growled. "I just don't trust him, that's all."

"Gray!" Silver barked.

"What?! You heard what Gildarts said about him! He's-"

"Gray, that's enough." Silver said in a no nonsense tone. Gray immediately shut his mouth. "Why don't you go play outside with Natsu while I talk to Gildarts? I'll be out to get you once we finish."

Gray pouted petulantly, but nodded and began walking off. Natsu looked from him to Gildarts who nodded for him to go on.

Natsu pouted as well, upset that yet another training session was going to be put on hold. How was he supposed to get stronger if all Gildarts wanted to do was talk to people?

Once he got outside, Gray was sitting up against a battered post, his arms crossed.

Natsu walked up to him. "Yo. I'm Natsu."

Gray scoffed. "I know who you are. You're the dragon boy Gildarts told us about."

Dragon boy? That was a new one. But, Gray wasn't wrong.

"So…" Natsu rocked back and forth on his heels awkwardly. "I guess since your dad is going to be training me, we'll be seeing each other a lot?"

"I guess." Gray shrugged.

Natsu figured that Gray wasn't much for conversation, which was fine with him. He walked over to the other side of the post and sat down. There they sat, back to back for a long while. Natsu stared up at the clouds again while Gray sulked for no apparent reason. Natsu wondered if Lucy was going to make a surprise appearance once again and help him out of this uncomfortable situation. Silver seemed nice enough, unlike his son, but Natsu didn't know the real reason why he was here or why Gildarts couldn't train him by himself. Perhaps he wasn't strong enough. Natsu wouldn't know since they only had one session together. Besides, what could Silver offer that Gildarts can't? Why did he even bring his son along if he was going to sulk like a big baby the entire time?

"My dad isn't doing this for you, you know." Gray suddenly announced after a long lapse of silence.

Natsu turned his head to look sideways at him. "I never said he is."

"Good! Because he isn't. He's only doing this because he owed Gildarts a favor. They go way back and Gildarts did something for my dad that he was really grateful for and this is what he's doing to repay him, so don't get any ideas. Besides, who would want to willingly be around a monster like you, anyway?"

Natsu grinded his teeth and jumped to his feet, turning around to completely face Gray. "Don't. Call. Me. That." He snarled.

"What?" Gray said with mock innocence. He stood up as well, nose-to-nose with Natsu as he smiled snidely. "A monster? Because that's what you are."

"No, I'm not!" Natsu pushed against Gray's chest, sending the boy down to the ground flat on his back.

Gray glared up at Natsu and steadily got up on his feet before throwing a punch, his fist colliding with Natsu's cheek violently. Natsu stumbled back then ran at Gray at full force, tackling him down to the ground and throwing punch after punch as Gray did the same.

Gray may have been young, but he obviously wasn't new to fighting. Natsu could tell from the way he held his ground and knew exactly when to duck and weave. Unfortunately, Natsu wasn't exactly inexperienced either. He landed a few good punches to Gray's face and body and they wrestled about on the ground, but could feel the force of Gray's hits as they landed on his side repeatedly.

Before things could escalate, however, they were both grabbed by the hair on their heads then forcefully made to crash skulls. Hard.

"Enough!" Someone shouted. "This is no way to act in the king's court."

Natsu recognized the voice and groaned. He picked himself up to meet the eyes of a highly irate Erza standing akimbo with her hands on her hips and her pathetic excuse of a sword in its holster.

"H-hey, Erza." Natsu greeted her nervously. "Long time, no see."

Erza narrowed her eyes at him, silently telling him to shut up. Which he did.

"Who the hell do you think you are coming over here and barking orders at us?!" Gray shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at her. "Shouldn't you be inside playing with your dolls or something, girlie?"

"Dolls? I do not own _dolls_." Erza said it as if it were a dirty word. "I own swords and knives. Many of which I will use on you if you use that tone with me again."

Gray gulped unconsciously and lowered his hand.

"What were you two fighting about that couldn't be solved with words?" Erza asked, looking between the two sullen boys.

"He started it!" Natsu spoke up first. "He called me a monster!"

"I did not!" Gray disputed. "He pushed me first! I was only defending myself!"

"Liar! You threw the first punch! Lucy told me that it isn't nice to call people bad names!"

"Who the hell is Lucy?"

"What are you? Stupid? She's the princess!"

"Don't call me stupid, stupid!"

"Do you want to fight, you bastard?!"

"Trust me, it won't be much of a fight, you prick!"

"I SAID ENOUGH!" Erza roared, pushing the two of them back just as they were advancing towards each other. She sighed, rubbing at her temples. "You boys are giving me a headache, but I will try to resolve this issue. You…" She pointed to Gray.

"My name is Gray."

"Gray, apologize to Natsu."

"What?!" Gray yelled. "Why should I?!"

"Princess Lucy is right. It is not kind to call people by names that might hurt their feelings. You antagonized Natsu first so you must apologize first."

Gray gritted his teeth, turning his back on them both and crossing his arms.

"Gray." Erza called, her voice unnerving. "If you don't apologize right now, I will find a different way for you to repent and you don't want that, do you?"

A shiver went up Gray's spine at her eerily quiet tone. As proud as he was, he valued his life more.

With a long, exasperated sigh, Gray turned back towards Natsu and offered his hand.

"I'm….I'm sorry about calling you a monster." Gray apologized. He kept his eyes averted as he did so.

Natsu placed his hand in Gray's. "It's fine…I guess."

"Good." Erza nodded contentedly. "Now, can we all be friends and play nicely from now on?"

Both boys looked at her as if she were insane.

Gildarts and Silver chose that exact time to appear.

"Gray, what the hell happened to you?!" Silver exclaimed as he took in his scraped up child.

"Uh…I tripped?"

Silver looked between Gray and Natsu, noting how both of them were equally injured and shame-faced. It was obvious what had recently happened, but Silver chose not to dwell on it.

"Let's just go, Gray. Sorry about postponing your training session, Natsu, but we'll be back tomorrow to help you."

Natsu nodded and smiled just thinking about all of the possibilities. He waved as the father and son left, sticking his tongue out at Gray when he was sure Erza wasn't looking.

"Good job keeping those boys in line, Erza." Gildarts laughed as he patted Erza on her shoulder.

Erza blushed slightly. "Thank you, Mister Gildarts."

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Lucy visited Natsu again that night. She could hardly contain her excitement as she thought about his reaction to the surprise she had for him. She hugged her back to her chest, smiling to herself.

Natsu was already sitting up and waiting for her once she arrived. She tried to suppress a happy giggle, but failed.

"Good evening, Natsu." She greeted him as she assumed her spot in front of the cell.

"Yo, Lucy."

"How did training go today?"

"Actually, we didn't train today. Gildarts introduced me to a guy that's going to help me from now on. I met his son, Gray, who's a total prick."

"Natsu!" Lucy admonished. "That's not a nice word!"

"What? It's true. We fought a little bit before Erza stepped in and yelled at us."

Lucy sighed. "Yeah, she does that. Anyways, I brought you a few things again."

"Is it cookies?!" Natsu asked animatedly.

"Even better." Lucy reached into her bag and pulled out a couple of containers. "Cake!"

"What's that?"

"They're sweet, like cookies, but they're more like squares of sugary, frosted, squishy bread."

Natsu's mouth began to drip with drool. Lucy passed him a container which he immediately opened. He dug into the cake, hardly taking breaths between bites.

"This is even better than the cookies!" Natsu said with his mouth full, crumbs falling down his shirt.

Lucy scrunched up her nose, but otherwise disregarded Natsu's lack of manners. He did grow up with a dragon after all. How civilized could she expect him to be?

"But, that's not all. I brought a book and I thought I could read it to you tonight. If you want me to, I mean."

"Sure. What book is it?"

Lucy reached into her bag once again to pull out a small book with a colorful cover. "It's called _Where the Wild Things Are._ It's one of my favorites."

Natsu looked closer at the cover. He didn't particularly like the images of creepy, grinning monsters dancing around with a boy in a weird costume. He didn't have to read the book to know that the child would be eaten at the end.

"Um, I don't know, Lucy…" He started warily.

"Trust me. You'll like it."

Natsu somehow doubted that, but settled in as Lucy opened the book. The story began with a boy named Max pretending to be a monster, getting in trouble for it, then being sent to his room by his anger mother. Somehow, without any explanation, his room turned into a forest full of weird monsters. As Natsu thought, the monsters had tried to intimidate Max and eat him. What he didn't expect was the monsters to make Max their king. That just didn't make sense to Natsu. Max was half their size and they could easily overpower him. Why make him their king? Natsu found himself leaning forward in anticipation as Lucy read on. Max ordered about the monsters and they didn't do a single thing about it.

"Max, the king of all wild things," Lucy continued in a clear voice. "was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all."

Natsu's mind went to Igneel, remembering lying on the grass beside the large dragon as he read him stories. None of being anything like this one.

"But, the wild things cried, 'Oh, please don't go. We'll eat you up. We love you so.'" Natsu tuned back in just as Max got home and found his supper waiting for him.

Lucy sighed, holding the book to her chest. "It gets better every time I read it."

"But, why didn't the monsters eat Max?" Natsu questioned, eagerly awaiting Lucy's answer.

"Because they're nice monsters. They only wanted to have fun with him."

"But, they said that they'd eat him up even when they said that they loved him!"

Lucy shrugged, stuffing the book and empty containers back in her bag. "I guess monsters just have a different way of showing their affection. It doesn't mean they're bad monsters."

For once, Natsu didn't have anything to say.

"Bedtime!" Lucy cheered. She stood up and weaved her hands through the straps of her bag. "We were up later than I planned. Did you like the story?"

Natsu nodded silently.

"Good! I'll bring a different book tomorrow night to read to you. I have so many that I think you'll like. Good night, Natsu!"

Lucy skipped up the steps, humming to herself, ignorant to Natsu's silent dilemma.

Natsu's mind was still on the book. The monsters had the chance to eat Max and be done with the whole thing, but they decided to accept him as one of their own instead. But, why? Because he stood up to them and showed that he wouldn't accept his demise?

Lucy's words also echoed in his head much like King Judas' words did earlier.

" _Because they're nice monsters…_

" _I guess monsters just have a different way of showing their affection…"_

" _It doesn't mean they're bad monsters…"_

This was the first time Natsu had ever heard of a _good_ monster. Albeit, they weren't very agreeable at first but they warmed up to Max in such a short time.

Natsu had been told that he was a monster by two different people in as many days and couldn't even begin to imagine the amount of people who believe it as well but just hadn't verbally said it.

But, not Lucy. If she believed him to be a monster, why would she continuously seek him out and spend time with him? She would be fearing for her life and studiously avoiding him. But, instead, she only wanted to spend _more_ time with him. He couldn't understand why, but he was grateful to have someone throughout this entire experience.

Natsu fell onto his back, staring up at the dark, grimy ceiling. He closed his eyes and smiled sleepily.

" _It doesn't mean they're bad monsters…"_

Even if he was a monster, which he wasn't, it didn't mean that he was a bad monster.

Natsu fell asleep, his night much more peaceful than the last.

* * *

 **Natsu is having doubts.**

 **Gildarts came back.**

 **We met Silver and Gray.**

 **Erza is a boss.**

 **Lucy is adorable.**

 **And shit's about to go down!**

… **Maybe.**

 **You'll have to wait and seeeee!**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses!**

 **(BTW I wrote all of this in one sitting! Yay me!) (Also, I do not own Fairy Tail or _Where the Wild Things Are,_ but it is my favorite childhood book)**


	6. Confrontation

**Hello, darling! I hope you all had a super great Thanksgiving. If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you had a terrific day anyway!**

 **I wasn't sure what to do for this chapter at first, but I figured it out with time and a whole lot of country music! I don't know why, but it helps me think better.**

 **Don't judge me!**

 **Anywhoooooo, here is chapter six of My Guiding Flame!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 6:**

* * *

 **Got no feel, I've got no rhythm**

 **I just keep losing my beat**

 **I'm OK, I'm alright**

 **I ain't gonna face no defeat**

 **I just gotta get out of this prison cell**

 **One day I'm gonna be free, Lord!**

 **"Somebody to Love" -Queen**

* * *

Natsu was beginning to really hate his cell. It was dark, it smelled weird, and whenever it rained it would leak right onto his mattress. Thankfully, it was not raining that night and he was tucked up in his blanket all nice and cozy like.

Lucy was late.

Lucy was never late.

If Natsu stretched up to the single window above his cell, he'd be able to see the sun already beginning to rise on the horizon. Lucy would come not long after it got dark, usually, but Natsu already wasted enough time staying up to wait for her only to find that she wasn't coming. He had huffed and sighed then eventually threw himself down on his bed.

He liked to think that she got held up with something or that she wasn't able to sneak down without being seen and was now in trouble. But, the biggest part of his mind jumped to the conclusion that she didn't want to see him anymore and decided to save herself the effort.

Natsu frowned and pulled his blanket over his head, burying himself in the darkness.

He wasn't sure if he could trust Lucy just yet, but he was beginning to like her as a friend. A friend was something he could use in this sort of situation and she was always there even since he entered this godforsaken castle at least two months ago. She showed up to read to him nearly every night and occasionally brought down a new snack that he wouldn't hesitate scarfing down. He even found amusement in her disgusted expressions when he did so.

However, Lucy wasn't the only one Natsu had grown close to.

He found a sort of surrogate father in Gildarts and enjoyed their training sessions. Natsu was wary of Silver at first, but after a few weeks of intense training, he found that the older man wasn't so bad and could actually teach him a lot. He's ran into Erza multiple times when they were training in the courtyard and she often stopped to watch and point out how his stances and positions were wrong. It was annoying at first, but Natsu actually appreciated her help.

Gray was a whole different story.

He'd come with his father every day and sit off to the side, pouting like a child and ignoring everyone. Natsu didn't know why he'd come at all if that's all that he was going to do. It was fun to get Gray all riled up so they could wrestle around before Silver and Gildarts came to break them up or worse Erza. Despite this, Natsu felt annoyed that Gray obviously had a problem with him, but he couldn't figure out what it was. Gray never talked to him besides hurling insults and swear words when they were fighting.

He decided that he was going to confront Gray at their next training session and ask exactly what his problem was. Natsu knew that it would inevitably end up in another fight, but he simply had to know.

He sighed, turning over in his bed.

He couldn't get any sleep without knowing if Lucy was alright or not.

Natsu squeezed his eyes shut, silently begging for sleep to take him so he wouldn't have to think about it anymore. Just as he actually did begin to fall asleep, Natsu heard footsteps.

He immediately sat up in his bed, looking towards the stairs and seeing Lucy's little slippered feet descending down them.

She looked up at him in surprise, his own expression probably looking much the same.

"Oh!" She gasped. "I-I didn't think you'd still be awake. I was just checking…"

She trailed off, stopping a few feet away from his cell. She always sat as near to him as she could, practically pressed up against the bars as they chatted about nothing in particular.

Something was wrong.

Lucy shifted her weight from foot to foot, avoiding his eyes. "Well, you're probably really tired so I should just-"

"What's on your face?"

Lucy jumped a bit at his question. She unconsciously reached up to touch her cheek, white powder appearing on her face once she pulled her hand away.

She hid her hand behind her back. "Oh…uh, I was just playing with makeup. I guess I went a little overboard, though."

Natsu narrowed his eyes at her, his sharpened eyesight making him able to see a bit of a discoloration right where her hand was.

He crawled over to the bars of the cell. He beckoned to her. "Come over here, Lucy."

"Uh, that's okay!" Lucy waved her hands. "I really should be-"

"I wasn't asking."

Lucy startled at the suddenly unsettling and domineering tone in his voice. It wasn't something she had ever heard from the usually exuberant and excitable boy. Before she could think twice about it, Lucy found herself drawing nearer to him until he could reach up and touch her face.

He dragged him thumb underneath her eye, the powdery stuff coloring his it. Just as he thought, a purplish/blackish bruise popped out from underneath the makeup, practically staring at him.

If it is was what he thought it was, someone was going to pay.

"Lucy, what's that?" He asked, his voice unsettlingly composed.

Lucy placed a hand over her eye. "It's really nothing, Natsu! I just ran into a doorknob. It was my own fault. Honestly!"

"Lucy, I've been in plenty of fights. I know what a black eye looks like."

"I ran into a doorknob, Natsu." She claimed once again, her voice growing desperate.

"No, you didn't! Who hurt you, Lucy! I'll beat him up for you!"

"You're going to beat up a door?!" Lucy scoffed. "That doesn't seem like a very fair fight."

"Stop messing around and tell me who it was, Lucy!" Natsu shouted, his hand still cupping her cheek. "Tell me right now or I'll-"

"Okay!" Lucy submitted. She reached up to wrap her fingers around his wrist and pulled his hand from her face then held it in her own, letting their conjoined hands rest in her lap. "Just, please, lower our voice."

Natsu nodded, waiting for her to go on.

Lucy sighed. She closed her eyes before beginning. "I was sneaking some sweets out of the kitchen again. I was just getting a couple of cookies for tonight, but the cook caught me and sent me to my father. He was already in a bad mood, like always, and I guess I only made it worse by interrupting. He yelled, a lot, and I cried…a lot. He told me to stop crying, but I couldn't. He kept yelling which only made it worse so he….he…."

Lucy hiccupped a broken sob, eventually breaking down in tears.

Natsu reached his other arm out and pulled her to him, hugging her as best as he could through the bars of the cell.

He couldn't believe the king would do something like that. Natsu knew he wasn't a good man and quite possibly insane, but he didn't think he would ever hit his own daughter. From Natsu's experience, fathers were supposed to protect their children, not cause them harm, at least not intentionally. Especially someone as kind and gentle as Lucy. Natsu felt his hate for the king grew as Lucy sobbed wordlessly against his shoulder, staining his shirt with a mix of her messy makeup and salty tears.

Natsu decided that he was going to get back at the king for Lucy. Someday. Somehow.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Lucy was embarrassed for crying so much that night/morning, but Natsu reassured her that it was fine. She thanked him for being there for her then ran back upstairs before the first rooster could sound its alarm.

It was all Natsu could think about that day. Gildarts and Silver could easily see that the boy was distracted. He half participated in their mock fights and half stared off into space, causing him to get hit more times than usual.

Natsu landed on his back after he was hit for about the twentieth time and looked up at the sky instead of getting back up. He wondered where Lucy was and hoped that she wasn't around her sorry excuse for a father again. He couldn't do much to protect her from him, but promised himself that whatever Judas would do to her Natsu would return the favor tenfold. That's the least Lucy deserves.

Gildarts walked over to stand over the dazed child.

"What's going on with you, kid?" he asked. "You've been daydreaming all day."

Natsu's eyes shifted over to look at Gildarts. His eyes brows furrowed at the kind smile the older man was giving him.

"Why are we doing this?" Natsu suddenly asked.

Gildarts' eyebrows went up. "What do you mean? Training?"

"Everything." Natsu slowly sat up. "I didn't want to come here. I didn't want to do all of this training stuff. I never had a choice. So, what am I doing all of this for? What do I get for it?"

Gildarts stared at his pupil, saddened by the distant and lost look in the boy's eyes. He sighed and stood up. "Well, I'm willing to guess that the king wouldn't exactly just let you go if you decided not to join his army. I don't suppose he asked if you wanted any of it in the first place, did he?"

Natsu shook his head.

"I didn't think so. The king isn't the sort of man to give you a choice. You either follow his every word or you lose your life. It isn't fair, but it's just the way things are, kid."

"But, why?!" Natsu stood up. "Why should we do what he says?! Why don't we go into that castle, find the king, and then we'll get rid of him! He won't see it coming and there's no way he can take on all of us at once!"

"Natsu, don't talk like that!" Silver reprimanded Natsu as he walked over.

"Silver is right." Gildarts agreed. "That kind of talk would get you in a whole mess of trouble if you were talking to anyone other than me and Silver. What brought all of this on, anyway?"

Natsu bit his tongue and looked away. He didn't know if Lucy wanted others to know about her…accident, but he decided to keep quiet about it just in case.

"He's just blowing out smoke." Gray suddenly spoke up from his position by a tree. He leaned his back against it, attempting to look superior. "I bet he wants us to start having doubts about the king so he could try to take over. Isn't that right, monster?"

"Gray-" Silver started, but was cut off by Natsu.

"What's your problem?!" Natsu demanded, stomping over to Natsu and standing toe-to-toe with him. "You never liked me! Why?!"

"Why?!" Gray repeated. "Because you're nothing but a stupid, scheming monster! I see what you're trying to do! You're just trying to make us comfortable around you so you could get stronger and eventually use your weird devil powers to kill all of us just because you can! That's probably why you're trying to get all cozy with the princess, isn't it?! You couldn't get close to the king so you decided to go after his precious, little daughter and make her think that you're her friend so you could get closer to the crown! That's really low, even for a freak like you!"

"Don't talk about Lucy like that! You don't know her and you certainly don't know me! I never pretended to be anything around her! In fact, she's the only one I can really be myself around, so don't say that I'm only pretending to be her friend! As for trying to get closer to the crown," Natsu barked a laugh. "Are you kidding me?! All I want to do is get away from this horrible place, not closer! I just want to get out of here, go back home to Igneel and never see this place again! So, don't act like you know anything about me because you obviously don't! I don't care what problem you have with me, but don't you dare bring Lucy into this because she's never done anything wrong to anyone, you bastard!"

Hands clamped down on each of the boy's shoulders, pulling them away from each other before they could begin to throw punches as they usually did.

"That's enough, boys!" Gildarts ordered as he pulled Natsu.

Natsu shook him off, but didn't go after Gray. Instead he turned away and began walking away from the field. His body was overheating with anger, causing the grass and flowers beneath his feet to singe and wither away as he passed them. Lucy could be mad at him later.

"Natsu, where are you going?!" Gildarts called after him.

"Back to my cell!" Natsu shouted back without turning. "It's better than hanging around here with that jerkface!"

Gildarts and Silver watched the boy stalk off, deciding not to follow him. He needed to cool down and saying anything that might antagonize him further wouldn't help.

Silver turned towards his son. "Gray, what the hell was that about?! Why would you say those things?!"

Gray crossed his arms and turned his face away, assuming his role as an average, cantankerous child.

Silver sighed, rubbing at his temples. Gray was certainly prone to temper tantrums, especially ever since his mother walked out, but he had never gone as far as to purposefully provoke another person. Usually he just sat alone in a corner, brooding and feeling sorry for himself until Silver talked him out of it. Silver knew it was a cry for attention, but didn't have the time to pull his child aside and talk to him about his problems.

"You know what, Gray," Silver said. "If this is how you're going to act all of the time, I think you're better off staying at home whenever I come to the castle to train Natsu."

Gray looked up at his father, his eyes filled with hurt and tears. His bottom lip trembled, but he bit down on it and blinked the tears away.

"Fine!" He shouted at Silver. "I never wanted to be here to begin with! You're a terrible father!"

With that said, Gray ran off in the direction of the castle, leaving behind an exasperated Silver and a tired looking Gildarts.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Natsu was locked up in his cell once again. He had mentioned how much he had hated it, but he had to admit that it was one of the safest and most isolated places he can escape to when his back is against the wall and he simply needs to be alone.

The guards looked doubtful when Natsu told them that Gildarts called off their training session again and requested to be put back in his cell, but they didn't argue and now here he was.

Natsu tried not to let anything that Gray had said get to him since none of it were true, but he was infuriated that the other boy would assume such things about him without ever even trying to get to know him first. Natsu didn't know what would make Gray come up with such accusations, but figured that he didn't like Natsu much to begin with and made things up as an excuse not to like him.

Natsu knew he didn't deserve any of it and Lucy even more so. If Lucy didn't come down to him that morning with her injured eye, he probably wouldn't have reacted the way he did when Gray claimed that Lucy was the king's "precious, little daughter". If he only knew about what the king was actually like, he probably wouldn't be saying such things.

For the second time that day, Natsu sat up once he heard the sound of someone small descending the stairs.

Only, it wasn't Lucy.

It was Gray.

The boy kept his head down as he approached Natsu's cell, his raven hair falling into his eyes.

Natsu stood up, taking a defensive stance. "What are you doing here?! If you're looking for a fight, it's going to kinda hard with the bars, but I can still kick your ass!"

"Relax." Gray said calmly. "I'm not here to fight you. I came to….apologize."

Natsu blinked, his stance relaxing a bit. "Apologize? Is Erza forcing you to do this?! Because, if she is, you can go ahead and walk away right now because-"

"No one is forcing me to do this. No one even knows I'm here. I decided to do this by myself, okay?"

Natsu narrowed his eyes, but couldn't pick up Gray's expression since his head was still down. He dropped his stance and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Fine. Go ahead." Natsu nodded to him.

Gray sighed, picking up his head just enough to look at the pink-haired boy. "I'm sorry for calling you names. I'm sorry for saying that you were a stupid, scheming monster and that you're just going to kill all of us in the end. I'm sorry I said that you're only getting closer to Princess Lucy so you could get closer to the crown and take over the kingdom. I made all of that stuff up. I didn't like you, I still don't like you, but that doesn't mean that I can accuse you of stuff that you probably never even thought of doing. I know that you were taken away from your home by force and that you were forced to train so you can join the king's army. It's just…"

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "It's just…?"

Gray gritted his teeth. "It's my dad…He never has time for me and even when he does, he's too tired to spend any actual time with me. My mom left us when I was three and he's all that I have left. When Gildarts came to ask my dad to help train you, I automatically didn't like you because you were just another thing that was going to take my dad away from me. He accepted and I was mad so I took it all out on you. I'm…I'm really sorry about that. But, you won't have to worry about that anymore because my dad says that I'll have to stay home from now on."

Natsu watched Gray with a close eye. He could tell that he wasn't lying, but trust wasn't something that came easily to him lately.

Gray's lip trembled as he tried not to cry.

Natsu let out a long sigh. "You should tell him."

Gray looked up in alarm. He hadn't expected Natsu to actually say anything back. "W-what?"

"You're dad, I mean." Natsu elaborated. "You should tell him how you feel. Nothing will change unless you do."

Gray stared for a moment before he scoffed and stepped back. "What makes you think he'll take the time to actually talk to me? He's too busy to even look at me anymore."

"Then force him to! My dad always told me that nothing should ever come before family and I agree with him. Silver should really learn how to listen to you more, but you have to teach him or he won't get it."

Gray couldn't believe that Natsu was actually giving him advice about this. He didn't know whether he should take it or not. Natsu had every reason to get back at him for all of the things Gray said and did to him, but giving him advice that could possibly work out for Gray wasn't the way to do it. Natsu didn't seem insincere when he said it.

The corners of Gray's mouth lifted up slightly as he gave Natsu a small smile. "Thanks, Natsu."

That was all Gray said before he jogged back up the steps and disappeared from Natsu's line of sight.

* * *

 **Geez, Gray was starting to get on** _ **my**_ **nerves and I'm the one writing his dialogue! What does that say about me? I dunno…**

 **So, Judas is an abusive asshole.**

 **Gray tells us his reason behind disliking Natsu.**

 **Natsu is surprisingly good at giving advice.**

 **And shit has not hit the fan quite yet…but, it will! Just you wait!**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses!**


	7. Liars

**Hello, darlings! I hope you all had a super great Thanksgiving. If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you had a terrific day anyway!**

 **I wasn't sure what to do for this chapter at first, but I figured it out with time and a whole lot of country music! I don't know why, but it helps me think better.**

 **Don't judge me!**

 **Anywhoooooo, here is chapter six of My Guiding Flame!**

 **This is a bit of a filler chapter, by the way.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 7:**

* * *

 **I'm surrounded by liars everywhere I turn**

 **I'm surrounded by imposters everywhere I turn**

 **I'm surrounded by identity crisis everywhere I turn**

 **Am I the only who noticed?**

 **I can't be the only one who's learned**

 **"I Don't Want To Be" -Gavin Degraw**

* * *

Summer went by quickly. Too quickly in Natsu's opinion. Fall went by without a hitch as well and, soon enough, winter had arrived and a blanket of snow had fallen over the land. Winter had been the most uncomfortable season for Natsu, for obvious reasons, but he found that there were a lot of differences between sleeping under a dragon's wing to keep himself safe from the snow and sleeping in a cell with about a dozen blankets that Lucy had given him. This only made it harder to hide all of them from the guards when they came to get him in the mornings, but he managed.

He had been keeping a close eye on Lucy ever since the night she came down to him with a black eye, making sure that no other bruises or scrapes had shown up anywhere else on her body. Thankfully, he didn't find any. That or Lucy was doing a better job at hiding them from him. He didn't want to ask her since every time he tried she would break down in tears and that wasn't a performance he cared to repeat a fifth time. He sincerely hated it when she cried almost as much as he hated the king.

And, man, how much he hated the king. He hadn't seen much of him, but Natsu was tallying up every wrongdoing he had committed, planning to make sure Judas got back just as much as he was giving. That's karma, after all.

Speaking of which, Natsu's vocabulary was becoming rather extensive thanks to Lucy. She read to him every night, the books going from children's level to adult once Lucy ran out. Although, Natsu did often request that she read him _Where the Wild Things Are_ every now and then. At times, Lucy would hand over one of the books to Natsu and make him read. He would get stuck quite often, but she was miraculously patient and helped him sound out the words as he went on.

She would also bring down a few books from her classroom and teach him random things that often had no correlation between each other whatsoever, but Natsu's mind was a sponge that soaked up her every word.

He didn't even know that he could retain so much information before Lucy.

His training also only grew more intense after Natsu's fight with Gray. Natsu had cleared up the misunderstanding to Silver, choosing to leave out the part when Gray had revealed that all he wanted was more of Silver's attention, enabling Gray to come with his father to train with Natsu. He participated more afterwards, actually sparring with Natsu instead of wrestling over a little disagreement, which they still regularly did. When training was cut short for whatever reason, they would play out in the courtyard, Erza occasionally joining along, and developed a sort of companionship. Erza was always there to break them up whenever Natsu and Gray got carried away.

Natsu found out that Erza was actually working towards joining the army, as well. Her father allowed her to practice with her own weapons in the other soldiers' preparation center when no one else was using it. She voiced her concern that none of the other men, not even her father, took her seriously because she was not only a child, but a girl at that. This thought infuriated her to no end, but Natsu found her more terrifying than any other person he has ever met and assured her that she absolutely could becoming a soldier.

Thus, yet another friendship was born.

The trio were currently in the courtyard, punching practice dummies as the older men sat off to the side, whispering to each other clandestinely. Natsu always knew that there was a big secret that was not only being kept from him, but from many others as well that was bigger than just joining the king's army.

The king was after something more than invincibility, but Natsu didn't know what else there was to it. But, he was just itching to find out.

No one had expected the king to exit the castle and start heading towards them all that afternoon. Gray, Erza, Gildarts, and Silver immediately stopped what they were doing to bow at Judas. Natsu stood up straight, not that the king was paying much attention to him anyway.

"Gildarts, Lord Silver. I would like to speak to you about an urgent matter promptly." His eyes drifted over to the children. "Alone."

Gildarts and Silver shared a look before following Judas back into the castle. The children watched the adults go, only unfreezing from their positions once they were completely out of sight.

Natsu grumbled nonsensically under his breath. Yet another training session was cut short because of the stupid king. What made him so important anyway? Sure, he kept the kingdom plenty prosperous. Sure, he kept the kingdom fairly safe and crime free. Sure, he….Natsu forgot his point.

Nevertheless, the king absolutely demanded respect and, according to Natsu, respect was something you had to earn and the king has not earned a single ounce of Natsu's respect. He already had a bad feeling concerning Judas from the beginning and the bruise on Lucy's face just solidified his apprehensions. He was obviously a power hungry, controlling, abuse asshole and Natsu sincerely wished something very bad would happen to him very soon.

Natsu threw himself to the ground, uncaring of Erza and Gray watching him. He threw an arm over his face to block his eyes from the harsh rays of the sun and simply relaxed.

"What are you doing?" He heard Gray ask.

"Resting." Natsu answered without looking up.

"We can still train, you know. How about we spar until my dad and Gildarts come back?"

"No, thanks."

Erza walked over to kneel beside the pink-haired boy. "Natsu, is something wrong? Usually you're all for fighting with Gray."

Natsu rolled over, his back facing her. "It's nothing."

"Obviously it isn't. If you don't feel like sharing your feelings, that's fine, but you really shouldn't bottle up your emotions. It's not good for you."

"Just leave it, Erza." Gray interjected. "Let him mope. He's probably just mad about me handing his ass to him the other day."

At this, Natsu sat up suddenly, glaring at Gray. "Like hell you did! I want a rematch!"

"Fine by me!"

Erza sighed as the boys got into it once again. She didn't even bother trying to break it up this time and decided to let them tire out themselves. She was happy to see Natsu act like his usual self, but also knew that something was still working in the back of his mind that was bothering him.

And she was pretty sure she knew what it was.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

"Vulcans in the mountains?" Gildarts questioned Judas dubiously as they stood in the center of the throne room. "I don't get it. What's the emergency?"

"The emergency is that they're getting far too close to the city of Magnolia. I have outside sources claiming that they are over a hundred of them, far too many for the soldiers posted there to take on by themselves so you two will have to get there before the Vulcans do and take care of them. Understood?"

"How close are they?" Silver asked.

"Only a few miles off." Judas answered. "You'd better head out by nighttime if you want to make it in time. Good luck, gentlemen."

Judas stood up from his throne and began walking out of the room.

"Wait!" Gildarts halted him. Judas paused in his steps to look back at the other man. "I have to speak to Natsu about something first."

Judas raised an eyebrow. "Is that the best idea, Gildarts? I believe it would be best if you pack up and leave as soon as you can."

Gildarts gritted his teeth, trying to stop himself from telling the king off. "I understand, your Majesty, but it'll only take a few minutes."

Judas gave Gildarts a long, hard look before sighing, turning his back and walking off. "Do what you must. Just make it quick."

With one last glare towards the king's back, Gildarts walked out back to the courtyard with Silver when, unsurprisingly, Natsu and Gray were fighting while Erza, surprisingly, sat off in the sidelines as she watched them make fools out of themselves.

Gildarts interrupted their tussle by grabbing Natsu by his ankle and lifting him into the air.

"Hey!" Natsu cried out indignantly. "What gives?! I was just about to crush that prick!"

"Yeah, right!" Gray shouted. "I would've beat you to a pulp if Gildarts hadn't have-"

Gray stopped once a heavy hand landed on his shoulder. He looked up to see his father standing over him with a grim look on his face.

"Gray," Silver said quietly. "You and I have to talk. Right now."

Gray gulped, suddenly feeling as if he was in a whole lot of trouble, but couldn't remember what he did that was wrong recently. He waved to Erza and flipped off Natsu before walking off with Silver.

Gildarts set Natsu back on his feet. "You and I have to speak as well, Natsu." He then turned to look at Erza. "You should probably go speak to your father, Erza. I believe there is some information he would like to share with you."

Erza looked concerned, but didn't question it. She waved goodbye then scurried off to find her father.

Gildarts motioned for Natsu to follow him. They skirted around the castle walls then down a familiar path through the forest behind it. Natsu knew that they were going to the meadow, but didn't know why since they hardly ever went there anymore due to Natsu accidentally burning a patch of flowers which Lucy found out about and chewed him and Gildarts out for. Natsu had never seen Gildarts show much fear, but would've found it funny to see him cowering away from a seven-year-old girl if Natsu was scared himself. It was also really funny how Lucy's face got all red when she was angry.

Gildarts continued to walk until he reached the middle of the field where he sat down. He patted the spot beside him, giving Natsu a forced smile.

Natsu was confused, but moved to sit beside his mentor.

They sat in silence for a while. Natsu wasn't one to sit in the same pot for a very long time and, soon enough, his leg was twitching and he was clenching and unclenching his fists restlessly.

"Natsu."

Natsu jumped slightly at the sudden break of silence. "Uh, yeah?"

Gildarts sighed. He bent over to rest his elbows on his knees. Natsu had never seen him look so tired. "I….I'm going to be leaving for a while."

"What?! Why?!"

Gildarts didn't want to lie to Natsu. He wasn't like any other child that was forced to be sheltered by adults and made innocent to the realities of the world, but he also didn't want to alarm the boy. Natsu was far too curious for his own good.

"Don't worry about that, kid." Gildarts grinned. "It's just a job the king is sending us off to near the mountains."

"How long will you be gone?"

"A few days or so." Gildarts shrugged.

Natsu pouted. "What about my training?"

"We'll train more when I get back, okay?"

Natsu growled. Lucy had taught him not to talk back to adults lest he get himself into trouble, but adults simply frustrated him to no end that he could hardly keep himself from throwing a tantrum like a toddler.

He took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. A trick Gildarts had taught him to keep his anger in check. "Fine."

"Aw, don't be like that, Natsu." Gildarts reached over and ruffled Natsu's hair. "I'll be back before you know it and, if you're good, I'll teach you something that I've been saving for when you get older."

Natsu's eyes brightened and his smile grew wide. "Really?! You mean it?!"

"Sure, kid. Sure."

Gildarts felt awful for lying to Natsu, but knew that it would turn out better in the long run, even if Natsu got angry at him for it.

Gildarts knew better than to think that Judas would honestly send him, Silver, and various other soldier in his castle to go over to fight a bunch of Vulcans. Vulcans were lowly creatures that had more brawn than brain and the soldiers stationed in Magnolia could easily take them even if there were thousands of them let alone a hundred.

The king was lying.

There was a stronger force behind this that Gildarts and the others would be heading towards later tonight. Which left only two questions.

What was it that they were going to fight?

And why did the king feel the need to lie about it?

* * *

 **Oh, the angst!**

 **I told you shit was about to go down!**

 **Also, does anyone else hate the king? *raises hand* Because I do.**

 **Not a whole lot of Nalu in this chapter, but just wait, my pretties!**

 **I would give you a sneak peek, but I usually just make this up as I go along. I am not a thorough person and I just take things as they come.**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses! (This chapter was kinda short. Sorry.)**


	8. Fireflies

**It'll be Finals week in only a couple more weeks and I am very much ill prepared. This also means that I will not be uploading as much as I'd like to because I will be studying very hard to pass these freaking classes! Huzzah! Sorry about that folks, but I'm sure you understand. (hopefully)**

 **However, after that I will be on Christmas break for an entire month so I'll be able to get in more chapters. Yay!**

 **Anyway, here is chapter eight of My Guiding Flame**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(I was listening to Journey while writing this. Don't stop believing, folks ~(^.^~))**

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

* * *

 **You would not believe your eyes**

 **If ten million fireflies**

 **Lit up the world as I fell asleep**

 **'Cause they'd fill the open air**

 **And leave teardrops everywhere**

 **You'd think me rude**

 **But I would just stand and stare**

 **"Fireflies" -Owl City**

* * *

It was late at night when Gildarts, Silver, and other soldiers were starting to set out on their trip to Magnolia. Gildarts somehow convinced the king to allow Natsu an extended curfew so they'd be able to say goodbye to each other.

Both Natsu and Gray had similar pouts on their faces.

"You promise you'll be back in a few days?" Natsu nearly whined as Gildarts hiked his overused pack over his shoulder.

Gildarts winced. "Sure, kid. It won't take too long."

"What am I supposed to do until you get back?"

Gildarts chuckled. He leaned down and talked in a quiet voice so Natsu would be the only one able to hear him. "I'm sure Princess Lucy would offer you some company when you get lonely."

Natsu's cheeks flared up. His eyes darted around to see if anyone was paying attention. "H-how did you-"

"Your face says it all, kiddo." Gildarts laughed and reached over to pinch Natsu's reddened cheek. "But, I'd be careful if I were you. I don't think the king would like you hanging around his little girl."

At the mention of the king, Natsu's eyebrows furrowed and he looked away from the older man. He wanted so much to say exactly how little the king cared for his daughter, but it wasn't his story to tell.

Gildarts noticed Natsu's sudden mood shift, but chose not to comment on it. He stood up straight and readjusted his pack before sending one last comforting smile to the boys and walking off with the other men.

Gray sucked his teeth and kicked at the ground. "Man, this sucks."

"What's your problem?"

"The problem is that with my dad gone, I'll have to stay with my aunt until he gets back."

"Is she really mean or something?"

Gray sighed, tugging at his hair. "No, not really. She's just kinda bossy and a little weird. Plus, she has this really bratty daughter that always picks on me."

"Ha!" Natsu barked a laugh.

"Shut up! She's a lot stronger than she looks!" Gray growled at him. He was itching for a fight, but could see the sky getting darker. "I'd better go before my aunt comes looking for me. See ya."

Natsu waved him off then saw the guards heading towards him and sighed woefully. Seems like it was time for him to go as well.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

The guards had recently given Natsu a blanket by order of the king. Natsu had never seen a more pathetic looking thing in his life. It was small and ratty and hardly covered his leg let alone his entire body.

Another tally on the board of what to get the king back for.

Natsu knew it was petty, but he'd take any excuse he could get.

Lucy showed up not soon after the guard had left. She wore a large, slightly mischievous grin on her face that was somewhat unsettling.

"You seem happy." Natsu pointed out.

Lucy's smile grew even more, if that were even possible. "I got a surprise for you." She sang.

"It is cake?!" Natsu jumped up excitedly.

"No." Lucy answered much to his disappointment. She pulled something that jangled out from behind her back and held it in front of her. "I snagged them off of the guard when I passed him! He didn't even notice!"

Keys.

Lucy had the keys to his cell.

"Holy cow! I didn't know you could be so sneaky, Lucy."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Of course I am. How do you think I sneak snacks down to you every night?"

Lucy moved to unlock his cell, opening it easily enough despite the horrific squealing it made as she did so.

Natsu immediately raced out, jumping around excitedly at the thought of a taste of freedom for a night.

He stopped once he looked back at his empty mattress. "Wait. What if one of the guards come back to see my gone?"

Lucy pursed her lips, looking back at the sad excuse for a mattress as well. Suddenly, a light bulb shone above her head. Metaphorically, of course.

She picked up his ratty blanket and wrapped it around the rest of them. She fluffed them up until they seemed big enough then stepped back to admire her handy work. Unless the guards brought down a flashlight with them, it would be hard to decipher what the lump was, but it looked enough like a sleeping boy to fool them.

Natsu gave Lucy a high-five as she smiled smugly.

"You're a genius, Lucy!"

"I know." She giggled. She grabbed onto his hand and began pulling his towards the stairs.

"Where are we going?"

"To the meadow!" She enthused.

"Why there? It's not like I haven't seen it before."

Lucy looked back at him, not pausing in her steps. "But, you've never seen it at night."

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Natsu was not impressed.

The meadow looked like it always had, only darker despite the moonlight.

He gave Lucy a look that obviously said that he was missing the point of coming here. "I don't get it. What's so special about coming here at night?"

Lucy shook her head silently. She held a finger up to him, signaling for him to wait. She walked further into the field, looking around at the earth with a secret smile on her face. She crouched down then ran her hand over a patch of grass.

With his jaw hanging open, Natsu watched as over a dozen fireflies flew up into the sky, their yellow tails burning brightly.

Natsu decided to try it out and copied Lucy. Sure enough, the bugs came out of their hiding spots and shone brilliantly as they circled around Natsu.

"Cool, huh?" Lucy asked.

Instead of answering, Natsu began running through the grassy field, a trail of fireflies raising up behind him as he went on. Lucy laughed as she watched him. The goofy smile that she became so used to over the course of a few months was as bright as day on his face.

"C'mon, Lucy!" He shouted at her. He didn't bother waiting for her reply before grabbing onto her hand and having her run with him.

They laughed like crazy, making circles and spirals in the grass and watched the disturbed fireflies reach out to the stars as if they were their long lost family.

Eventually, Lucy grew tired and sprawled out on the ground to catch her breath. Natsu was still giggling as he followed her and fell onto his back.

"This is awesome, Luce." He panted as they stared up into the night.

Lucy looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. "Luce?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. It's just a shorter version of your name, right?"

"Not really. You just changed the "Y" in my name to an "E"."

"Whatever. I'm calling you that now so deal with it."

Lucy rolled her eyes, but didn't argue. Even if she did, he'd probably do what he wanted anyway.

They both stared up at the stars in comfortable silence, both with different things on their mind. Natsu kept sneaking looks over to Lucy, thankful that he was so distracted by the stars to notice what he was doing and call him creepy or something. But, he couldn't help it. He couldn't help but wonder why she was so kind to him in the first place. He had done absolutely nothing to earn her friendship besides running her over and she was the one who showed up that first night in the dungeon to check if he was alright. He was highly cautious of her at first after being thrust into her castle and because who she was related to, but then slowly grew used to her stubbornness to come and see him whenever possible and accepted that she was nothing like her father and decided throw caution to the wind and trust her. Lucy had given him no reason not to trust her, after all.

"Aquarius told me that my mother used to come here all of the time." Lucy said suddenly. Natsu had begun to think she actually fell asleep.

"Oh, really?" Natsu raised an eyebrow. "This is the first time I ever heard you talk about your mom. What was she like?"

Lucy was quiet for a very long time. Natsu felt as if he had asked something he shouldn't have. She was too still for his liking.

"I don't know." She finally answered. Her voice was small, but Natsu could hear the underlying sadness in it. "I never met her."

"Did…did she leave or something?"

She shook her head. "No. My mother died giving birth to me. No one ever tell me much about her. Except her name."

"What was her name?"

"Layla." Lucy breathed in and let out a long sigh. "I wonder if I was anything like her."

Lucy closed her eyes, turning her head away to cover the sight of her trembling lips.

She had so many questions over who her mother was, she had never even seen a picture of her, but no one in the castle, especially her father, would tell her anything. She wondered if it was a taboo topic and not to be spoken of. But, why? She remembered back to when she first asked Judas about her mother and cut her own thoughts off before it got too painful.

Natsu could see her inner quandary even with her turned away. He could tell by the slight quivering of her shoulders and her tightened fists.

Hesitantly, he reached out, running his hand along the grass then touching his pinky finger to the side of her hand.

Lucy jumped slightly at the sudden contact, but didn't pull away.

"Well, if she was anything like you," Natsu whispered to her. "she was probably a really great person."

Lucy's head whipped back around to look at him. Natsu smiled back at her, showing no signs of dishonesty.

Lucy's eyes softened and, instead of replying, she opened her hand so his was able to rest in hers fully and closed it around his fingers.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

The pair managed to return back to the castle before anyone had even discovered they were gone. Lucy was quiet for most of the night, but refused to let go of his hand until he was locked securely back in his cell.

Once she headed back up the stairs, Lucy tossed the keys she snatched onto the ground casually so it would look as if the guard has just mistakenly dropped them on his way out.

The sun was just barely coming up when the two had finally laid their heads down and fell asleep.

* * *

 **Another short chapter. Sorry about that.**

 **But, you get more Nalu fluff. I am not sorry about that.**

 **Gildarts and Silver are gone.**

 **Gray has to stay with his aunt. (I'm sure you all know who that is)**

 **What's the secret behind Layla?**

 **I'm sure you're all wondering, but you'll just have to wait and see ;)**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses!**


	9. Loyalty

**Finals week, bitches! (Excuse my French)**

 **I am not a happy camper this week, but I've put aside time to write out a new chapter for you guys before I blow my brains out from all of the stress.**

 **Joking! Sorta…**

 **I hope you guys have a better week than I will. You deserve it ;)**

 **Anyways, here is chapter nine of My Guiding Flame!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 9:**

 **B-B-B-Be careful making wished in the dark, dark**

 **Can't be sure when they've hit their mark**

 **And besides in the mean, mean time**

 **I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart**

 **I'm in the de-details with the devil**

 **So now the world can never get me on my level**

 **I just gotta get you off the cage**

 **I'm a young lover's rage**

 **Gonna need a spark to ignite**

 **"My Song Know What You Did in the Dark" -Fall Out Boy**

* * *

Natsu was terribly bored.

Gildarts was gone. Lucy was busy. Gray was with his aunt and Erza was nowhere to be found.

Thus, here Natsu was. Lying out in the sun in the courtyard under the watchful eyes of various guards sent by the king. Natsu was just surprised His Majesty even allowed him to be let out of his cell that morning. He was allowed to venture around the castle, with a lot of limitations, as long as he doesn't breathe on anything.

He didn't see the point in being in the castle if Lucy wasn't available to play.

He supposed he could seek out Erza, but didn't particularly feel like being reprimanded by the redheaded she-devil for doing nothing.

Fortunately, not for Natsu, he didn't have to seek her out.

A dark shadow descended over him and an ominous chill went down his spine. He didn't have to look up to know what was causing the sudden mood shift.

"Is this honestly how you plan to spend your entire day?" A familiar voice asked, actually demanded, as she stood over the fire mage.

Natsu dared to crack one eye open to look and, sure enough, there stood Erza with an impatient expression on her face and her arms crossed across her lightly armored chest.

"H-hey, Erza." Natsu stuttered nervously. "I didn't expect to see you today."

Erza lifted an eyebrow. "Well, I _was_ going to go train, but then I came across you lazing around here in the dirt like a pig. Don't you have anything better to do with your time?"

Natsu shrugged. "No, not really."

"Just because Gildarts is away, it doesn't mean you can slack off. You'll never get stronger if you don't keep pushing yourself. What do you think I do every time my father is away?"

Natsu's eyes shifted to the side, away from the ranting girl. He'll never get stronger? Well, what if he didn't _want_ to get stronger? Isn't that what the king wanted? For him to become stronger and stronger until he becomes some sort of undefeatable monster for the king? Natsu didn't want that. He didn't want to become a mindless follower like the Judas' other soldiers and he didn't want to fight anyone for the king's selfish purposes. Even if he did, what would happen next? The king would become invincible, but what would become of Natsu? He wanted to live his own life and not be a drone for the king to use and abuse however he'd like. He wanted to find Igneel and go back home.

He never asked for any of this.

He felt a sudden sting on his forehead and flinched.

"Natsu, are you even listening to me?!" Erza growled at him.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Did you just flick me?!"

"You wouldn't listen to me otherwise. Do you know how many times I've called your name? Where did you go?"

"Nowhere." Natsu mumbled. "I was just…thinking about something."

Erza sighed. "You are too easily distracted. I don't know how Lucy and Gildarts are able to teach you anything."

Erza saw something flash in Natsu's eyes for a moment once she mentioned Lucy, but couldn't place what it was.

Erza had many encounters with the young princess ever since she and her father came to the kingdom soon after her third birthday. Erza automatically avoided the king at all cost and bowed as she should when she was in his presence because he was so intimidating. Lucy was an entirely different story. She was kind and soft-spoken. She never used her status to get anything and was exceedingly well mannered. Erza had to wonder how Lucy could ever be related to someone like Judas.

Over time, she and Lucy had developed a sort of friendship over the years, meaning their closeness brought out a few secrets. Lucy's bruises began appearing and played it off by claiming she was clumsy. Her excuses ranged from falling down the stairs to running into things. There were many things Lucy is not.

A good liar is one of them.

Erza walked over to Natsu's side where he was looking off into the distance. She kneeled down to look at his face.

"Natsu, what do you know about Lucy's bruises?" She asked without any warning, causing Natsu to wince.

He turned his head to the other side and shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Again, Erza walked over to face him. "I know you've seen them. You're spending a lot of time with her lately and she's not very good at hiding them. What has she told you about them?"

Natsu sighed. There was no use in hiding it anymore. Erza already knew. "She told me it was her father. She got caught sneaking sweets out of the kitchen and got in trouble."

Erza blinked. "Y-you mean she actually told you the truth? Just like that?"

"Yeah. She came down to see me a few months ago with a freakin' black eye! I haven't seen any other injuries since then, but I'm not about to trust the king with her."

Erza stared at him for a long moment before exhaling loudly and standing up, brushing dirt off of her skirt.

"Natsu, there a few things you must know about the king."

"You mean how he's a giant, abusive asshole?" Natsu interjected before she could continue on with her statement. "Yeah, I already got that."

"Natsu, please, just listen." Natsu gritted his teeth, but sat back and looked at her expectantly. "King Judas might not be the kindest or the most comfortable to be around, but everything he does he does for a reason. Do you understand?"

Natsu's eyebrows furrowed together as he gave Erza a hard look. "What reason would he have to hit Lucy?!"

"Well, I can't think of one at the moment, but-"

"But, nothing!" Natsu yelled out, standing up with his hands balled into fists. He was still a few inches shorter than Erza, but wouldn't stand down. "Lucy is the nicest person I've ever met and she doesn't deserve to be hit for any reason! That king is an insane asshole and you shouldn't be defending someone like him! I thought Lucy was your friend!"

"She is! I'm just-"

"You're not her real friend! You're just another of the king's blind soldiers who follow his every order! Don't even try defending him because I don't want to hear any of it! Just go back to training for your stupid wars and leave me the hell alone!"

With that said, Natsu brushed roughly past the redheaded girl and stormed off. He could hear Erza calling out to him, but never bothered looking back.

He didn't know where he was heading, but anywhere was better than here.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Natsu didn't know where he was.

He was well outside of the castle walls, that much was for sure.

He walked over with the meadow in mind, but must have missed a turn somewhere because he was now lost in the forest.

He was still pretty angry, but now his anger morphed into frustration as he brushed away branches and tripped over dips and raises in the ground as he walked.

His breathing was uneven and harsh. His strides were jerky and clipped. He was grinding his teeth together with such ferocity that he felt as if they were about to break. He couldn't remember ever being this angry. He could feel the familiar burn of fire on his tongue that was threatening to come out, but he held it back. Igneel had always taught him that trees were just as alive as any other person and do not deserve to be burnt down.

But, he just couldn't believe what Erza had said. The king has his reasons?! That was just bullshit! He wanted to assert his dominance over Lucy by hurting her, but that was far from what she deserved. Natsu wished he could do something about him, but, at the moment, he wasn't strong enough to do much damage. He could throw a hissy fit that would ultimately do nothing but get him in trouble. Perhaps he could bide his time, become stronger _then_ do something. Natsu liked that idea, but what could he do? At least he had time to figure it out.

Natsu stopped walking. He breathed deeply in and out as he calmed himself. As he did so, he could hear something in the distant. He stood stock still to listen closer and made out the sound of someone grunting.

Curiosity got the best of him and he decided to follow the sound.

He was glad he did since he came across a clearing. The one grunting was none other than Gray Fullbuster.

Natsu hadn't been seen yet and watched as Gray punched at a tree for no apparent reason with wrapped up fists.

Oddly enough, he was in nothing but his boxers.

Natsu walked closer and picked up Gray rambling to himself.

"Stupid *grunt* dad! Stupid *punch* Ur! Stupid *grunt* Ultear! Stupid *punch* Natsu!"

"What the hell did I do?" Natsu cut in, causing Gray to jump and spin quickly to face the new disturbance.

"Natsu!" Gray growled. "What the hell are you doing here?! How did you find me?!"

Natsu threw up his hands defensively. "Cool it, prick. It's not like I was actually looking for you. I got lost in the forest and heard your weird sounds and thought I would check it out. I didn't expect you to be here punching a tree like some kind of freak."

Gray scoffed. "Whatever. Just go back to wherever you came from and leave me alone. Trust me, you're the last person I want to see right now."

Natsu crossed his arms. "Right back at you, jerk! What's your problem?!"

"You're my problem, you bastard! Why are you still here?! Why don't you go back to your little girlfriend and play with her instead of bugging me?!"

If Gray was wearing a shirt, Natsu would have grabbed him by the collar. Instead, he settled for invading Gray's space until they were nose-to-nose.

"Don't talk about Lucy like that." He replied menacingly.

Gray was thrown off by the other boy's sudden anger, but didn't back down. "What are you getting all defensive for? I didn't say anything bad about her, you know."

"It doesn't matter! You don't know the first thing about her so don't talk about like you do!"

"Get out of my face, already, idiot! I didn't say anything about your little girlfriend so back off!"

"What did I just say?!" Natsu shouted, putting his hands against Gray's chest and shoving him back roughly.

Gray staggered back and ran into the tree, the bark of it rubbing against his bare back, causing him to wince.

He bared his teeth and glared at Natsu. "You wanna fight, asshole? Fine with me!"

Gray tackled Natsu to the ground, throwing a solid fist to Natsu's cheek only to end up being thrown off and kicked in the gut. He grunted with pain and curled inwardly, swallowing back vomit. Natsu didn't stop there. He kicked at Gray's side repeatedly until Gray had enough and grabbed Natsu's ankle just as he was about to kick him again. He flipped Natsu onto his back and returned the favor by hitting Natsu's stomach with his fist.

This went on for a while. Longer than it usually lasted since there was no one around to pull them apart. With both anger and personal frustrations fueling them, their hits were also more powerful and painful.

They were both on their feet once again, panting with exertion and wiping sweat and/or blood from their brows.

"What's the matter, Gray?" Natsu panted. "Tired already? Just take back what you said and I'll let you walk away with all of your limbs intact."

"Not a chance, dumbass." Gray retorted. "You started it and I'm prepared to finish it."

Gray threw back his arm, preparing to throw another punch. Natsu was prepared for it, but wasn't prepared for the sudden surge of magic that came over Gray. His fist was surrounded by shards of ice that encased his hand. Gray seemed ignorant to the entire thing so didn't pause as he let his fist fly and punched the distracted pink-haired boy in the face.

Natsu fell back, ignoring the pain in his cheek. He stared at Gray in astonishment, the other boy staring at his hand much the same way.

"Gray…" Natsu mumbled. "You're a-"

"Shit!" Gray exclaimed. He shook his hand frantically until the ice disappeared. "You're weren't supposed to see that! You didn't see anything, you hear me?!"

"Gray, you're a….mage."

"Shut up! I'm not! I'm a normal person! You didn't see shit!"

"You're a mage! You can use magic!"

Gray growled in frustration, kicking at the trunk of the tree. "Godammit! Ur is going to kill me! Shit! What's my dad going to say when he finds out?! This is all your fault, you bastard!"

"So, if you're a mage…"

Gray sighed, smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand a few times. "Yes, I'm a mage! I'm an ice mage! Just get on with it!"

"If you're a mage…"

"Geez, just get on with-" Gray was interrupted by a flaming fist to the face. He rubbed at his jaw and glared up at Natsu.

Natsu's smile was large as he held up his hand which were sheathed with fire.

"That's mean I don't have to hold back anymore."

Gray watched him for a moment before a similar grin overtook his face and he picked himself up.

"If that's what you call holding back then I'd hate to see how pathetic you are when you're actually trying.

And thus, the fighting picked up once again.

* * *

 **Erza defended the king.**

 **Natsu is mad at Erza.**

 **Gray is an ice mage?! *collective gasp***

 **I think we all pretty much knew.**

 **How'd he figure that out?**

 **I think we all know the answer to that as well.**

 **What's gonna happen in the next chapter?**

 **You'll have to wait and see ;)**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses!**


	10. My Mother

**Finals are over, darlings! I am a free bird! At least until next semester, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it ;)**

 **Anyway, I'm super excited about where this story is heading! Expect a bit of a time jump in the near future because our babies are not going to stay babies forever, no matter how much we'd like them to.**

 **I hope you all have had a pleasant week and an even better weekend! You deserve it!**

 **Anyways, here is chapter ten of My Guiding Flame!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(Or not…It's your choice.)**

* * *

 **Chapter 10:**

 **It's hard to remember**

 **Summer or winter**

 **When she hasn't been there for me**

 **A friend and companion**

 **I can always depend on**

 **My mother**

 **That's who I mean**

 **"My Mother" -The Chipettes**

* * *

The day was going rather slowly for Lucy Heartfilia.

It began the same as any other day. She was awoken quite rudely by Aquarius, bathed, prepped, and dressed by Virgo, had her hair done up expertly by Cancer and was down in the dining hall where she was forced to eat alone due to her father being far too busy to join her.

It was nearly noon and she was in the middle of her piano class. She usually loved it since she had a deep affection for the large instrument and all of the pretty sounds it produced, but she was simply unable to focus that day.

Natsu was at the forefront of her mind, as he usually was nowadays, and Lucy had no idea what that meant. Over the many months he had spent in the castle, they had obviously grown very close and she could trust him with anything and she hoped he felt the same way. Only, there was something else. Something much bigger than a friendship between two children with their own little problems. Lucy just couldn't figure out what.

This was one of those times when she wished she could speak to her mother. Lucy had read many books, a few of them allowing her to build up her own perception of what a mother is supposed to be like based on the characters in said books. Mothers were beautiful, wise, kind, and nurturing creatures that are very protective over their children and would do whatever it takes to make them happy including putting aside their own happiness or even putting their lives on the line.

This was Lucy's image of her own mother since she didn't have much else to build off of.

A loud snap caused Lucy to jump and pop her thought bubble she was stuck in. The looked up shyly to her irate instructor, giving him a tiny smile.

"Your Highness, with all due respect, you have been pressing the same key for the past five minutes. You're not distracted, are you?"

Lucy shook her head. "Oh no, sir! I just…really enjoy the sound of this particular key."

The instructor raised a single eye, but figured that it was best not to push the subject. He cleared his throat and continued on with the princess' lesson. Lucy sighed and attempted to focus on the sheet music set up in front of her.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

After the piano lesson was over, Lucy had decided to go in search for Natsu while she had time on her hands just in case he was feeling lonely or bored now that Gildarts was gone.

Her search, however, proved to be fruitless. The courtyard was devoid of any pink-haired boys as was Lucy's meadow. Lucy could waste her time going from room to room in the castle, but knew fully well that Natsu was smart enough not to venture through the large building with the risk of either getting lost or caught by guards, or worse, the king.

With her head hung low, Lucy returned to her room to re-read one of her many books. She had an entire room with nothing but bookshelves filled to the brim with textbooks, novels, poetry, and various forms of literature. She looked up and down the shelves in search for something decent to read. She finally decided to pull out something random which turned out to be her complete set of poems by none other than _Edgar Allen Poe._ (A/N: I know he's not in the FT universe. Just go with it!) He was one of Lucy's most favored poets despite his deep and often depressing tales of woe, but could appreciate his inner turmoil and his ability to write out his saddening events onto paper for all to see. She could only dream of ever being that courageous.

Lucy jumped on to her too large bed and settled into the fluffy pillows, flipping to one of the middle passages in search for her favorite poem, _Annabelle Lee._

Instead, she found something else that caught her eye and caused to her to pause to read.

" _Because I feel that in the heavens above_

 _The angels, whispering to one another._

 _Can find among their burning tears of love,_

 _None so devotional as that of "Mother,"_

 _Therefore, by that dear name I have long called you,_

 _You who are more than mother unto me."_

Lucy slammed the book closed and tossed it aside.

She raced back over to her shelves to pull out another book and flipped through it without looking at the cover.

" _The mother who lay in the grave, was the mother of my infancy; the little creature in her arms, was myself, as I had once been, hushed for ever on her bosom." (Charles Dickins, David Copperfield)_

Growing frustrated, Lucy pushed that one aside as well and grabbed another.

" _As mothers and daughters, we are connected with one another. My mother is the bones of my spine, keeping me straight and true. She is my blood, making sure it runs rich and strong. She is the beating of my heart. I cannot now imagine a life without her."_

Lucy groaned, falling back and looking up at the ceiling.

What are the odds?

It was hardly fair. Lucy had never even seen a picture of her mother. There was enough portraits of her father and herself lined up along the castle walls, but not a single one of Layla Heartfilia. Lucy wondered why that was, but already knew that she wasn't about to get her answer even if she asked every single being in the kingdom.

Lucy slowly stood up, brushing nonexistent dirt off of her gown and sauntering out of her room just in time to run into Aquarius who was preparing to lecture Lucy on hiding away in her room.

"There you are." Aquarius barked. "You're late for your history lesson. What have you been up to, brat?"

Lucy looked back into her room where the books were scattered about on her bed and floor. Typically, she would never treat her lovely books with such contempt, but they had betrayed her today. They had broken her trust with their simple words that cut through her very soul like a knife and twisted it.

She looked back at Aquarius and lifted her mouth into a crooked smile. "I'm sorry, Aquarius. I got a little distracted with my books and lost track of time."

"Humph. Well, pay better attention next time. Also, be sure to pick up those books once you get back. I'm your nanny, not your maid. Got it?!"

Lucy nodded quickly. Aquarius turned on her kneel, not waiting to see if the little princess was following or not. Lucy had to jog to catch up, but managed to fall into step behind the temperamental blue-haired woman.

After a couple turns and dips into various hallways to get to the classroom, Lucy cleared her throat.

"Aquarius, may I ask you a question?"

"You just did." The nanny snapped.

"Oh…May I ask you another? Besides the one I just asked, of course."

Aquarius sighed. "If you must."

"It…It's about my mother."

Aquarius halted quickly in her steps. Too quickly for Lucy sine she ran directly into the older woman's legs.

Aquarius whipped around, looking down at the blonde-haired little girl. "I thought I told you-"

"Everything that you could." Lucy interrupted her brazenly. "I know, but I don't believe you that's true."

Aquarius' eye began to twitch. "Are you calling me a liar?"

"No! Of course not! I am only saying that you are not entirely telling me the truth. Don't you think I deserve to know?" Lucy stomped her foot. "She was my mother, after all! Mine! I should know more about her! It's not fair! It's simply not fair! Why is it such a huge secret?! Why am I not allowed to know who my own mother is?! Why?! Why?! Why?!"

Lucy finished with her stomping. She panted, her cheeks reddened with both anger and breathlessness. Her eyes stung with the familiar prick of oncoming tears, but forced them back by blinking rapidly. She bunched her hands in her skirt to keep them from shaking.

Aquarius remained standing before her with a neutral expression, seemingly unimpressed by the princess' tantrum.

"Are you finished?" She asked monotonely.

Lucy gritted her teeth, not answering the question.

Aquarius let out a deep sigh. To Lucy's surprise, the older woman knelt down so she was eye to eye with the child.

"You want to hear something about your mother?" Aquarius questioned, staring into Lucy's large, doe eyes.

Lucy gasped then nodded eagerly.

Aquarius reached over, grasping a lock of Lucy's hair and running her fingers through the silken, golden strands. Lucy watched her nanny's face as she did so, watching the whimsical, almost nostalgic expression that crossed her face.

"You look exactly like her." Aquarius whispered, almost to herself.

Lucy's eyes widened.

Aquarius let go of the strand of hair and stood up straight. She turned back around as if nothing had happened, leaving Lucy standing alone and confused.

Aquarius paused and, without turning around, said, "That's all I've got to tell you today. As long as you don't do that stupid, bratty stomping thing you just did ever again, I might tell you more tomorrow."

With that said, Aquarius flipped her hair over her should and began strutting off once again.

Lucy watched for a long moment before a large smile replaced her confused frown and she raced after her nanny excitedly.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Later that night, two certain boys were lying underneath the stars; scraped up and panting after hours of fighting that was only meant to take out their individual frustrations. It had worked, but now both possibly had some explanations to give once they return to their homes.

"So," Natsu panted. "A mage, huh?"

Gray rolled his eyes and resisted slapping some more sense into the fire mage. "Yup."

Natsu grinned. "Cool. I guess I can't tell anybody else about this?"

"Nope."

"Cool. Wanna go again?"

Gray shrugged. "Sure."

"Cool."

* * *

 **We finally get a little something something about Layla!**

 **Huzzah!**

 **It's not much, but it's made Lucy happy.**

 **Natsu and Gray just can't keep their hands off each other, can they?**

 **(Here comes the yaoi train! Choo choo!)**

 **Just kidding. This is a Nalu fanfic, after all ;)**

 **So, is Natsu going to be forgiving Erza anytime soon?**

 **What about Gray's sudden powers?**

 **What else is Aquarius going to tell Lucy about her mother?**

 **Find out all of this and more in the next chapter of My Guiding Flame!**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses!**

 **(I do not own** _ **David Copperfield, Annabelle Lee, To My Mother,**_ **or anything else I might've referenced in this chapter. Also, I do not own Fairy Tail. It would be cool if I did, but you know…)**


	11. Revelations

**Two updates in the same week?! *gasp***

 **I just have a lot of time on my hands ~(^v^~) Lol whattya gonna do?**

 **I get to bake a ton of cookies tomorrow! Huzzah! Baking is my favorite thing to do, besides writing of course ;)**

 **Anyways, I should be getting in at least one or two more updates before Christmas so look forward to it, my lovelies! If not, have a very merry Christmas! If you don't celebrate Christmas, enjoy whatever thing you do as well! You deserve it**

 **Anyway, here is chapter eleven of My Guiding Flame!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 11:**

* * *

 **Prison gates won't open up for me**

 **On these hands and knees I'm crawling**

 **Oh, I reach for you**

 **Well I'm terrified of these four walls**

 **These iron bars can't hold my soul in**

 **All I need is you, come please, I'm calling**

 **And, oh, I scream for you**

 **Hurry, I'm falling, I'm falling**

" **Savin' Me" -Nickelback**

* * *

A few days had gone by. Days had turned into weeks then weeks to months. Before anyone knew it, a new year had begun and there was still no word of Gildarts, Silver, or any of the other soldiers.

How long did it take to cut down a few measly Vulcans?

Natsu distracted himself by regularly fighting with Gray, speaking with Lucy when he could and completely avoiding Erza at all costs. He wasn't exactly angry with her anymore, just disappointed.

Natsu was currently held up in his cell after calling it a night since Gray had an engagement with his aunt and Lucy was having dinner.

At the word, Natsu's stomach growled.

Lucy was not able to sneak down sweets to him much anymore since the day she got caught, but managed to snatch him a cookie every once in a while. Because of this, Natsu's diet consisted of indescribable mushy food that the guards served him three times a day. How he wished for a roasted boar or grilled fish or even a small, cooked rabbit to nibble on.

He groaned and turned over onto his back, staring up at the dripping ceiling with discontent.

Not a day went by when he didn't think of Igneel. Natsu didn't even know how he came to be with Igneel, but he never thought to ask. It was simply a fact that he accepted. How could honestly complain about having a fire-breathing dragon as a parent?

Natsu was beginning to accept that perhaps Igneel was not coming. As much as he hated the thought, it's already been half a year since he was taken from his home and Igneel had still not come to rescue him. Natsu liked to think that the dragon was biding his time, searching for the right moment to bust in and take the child away, but come to realize that it wasn't about to happen.

Perhaps he never truly cared for his apprentice/son and saw the chance to be rid of him and took it.

The thought brought tears to Natsu's eyes. He closed them and laid an arm across his face to block out what light was left in the dungeon.

Before he could stop himself, he was thinking back to his time with Igneel.

" _Igneel, who are my parents?" Young Natsu suddenly blurted out, causing the drowsy dragon next to him to flinch._

 _Igneel lifted his large head off of his paws to look over at his surrogate son, frowning at the crestfallen look he found on the child's face._

" _Why do you ask?" Igneel said._

 _Natsu lifted and dropped his little shoulders in a shrug. "No reason. But, everyone has them, right? I know you're not my real dad since you're a dragon and I'm a human, so where_ is _my real one?"_

 _Igneel gulped and scratched at his cheek with a sharpened claw. "Well…you see, Natsu, sometimes parents leave their children for different reasons. I'm not exactly sure who your parents were either, but I'm sure they loved you very much and only left you because they were out of choices."_

 _Natsu cocked his head to the side as he stared up at Igneel. "What do you mean? Why wouldn't they be able to keep me?"_

" _Sometimes, adults do not have the means to take care of a child such as money or a safe enough home."_

" _But, you and I don't have any money or an actual home, but you take care of me just fine."_

 _Igneel groaned. "Natsu, some things just don't have a clear explanation. I know it might be confusing and frustrating, but just know that as long as I'm living, you'll never have to be alone."_

 _Natsu smiled. He jumped up from his spot on the ground to climb up onto his father's paw. "Really?! You mean it?!"_

 _Igneel chuckled. He lowered his head and nuzzled his nose to Natsu's head. "Of course, Natsu. I'll always be with you."_

Salty tears dripped down Natsu's face. He rubbed at them furiously, angry at his emotion's betrayal.

Igneel had lied.

He didn't stay with Natsu as he had promised.

What else had Igneel told him that had been a lie?

Natsu heard a rush of sudden footsteps coming down the stairs, much too heavy to be Lucy's, and looked up in time to catch one of the guards entering the dungeon looking flustered and slightly fearful.

He pulled the keys from his belt and began unlocking Natsu's cage. "You presence is requested in the throne room."

Natsu stood, slowly approaching the gate of the cell. "Why am I-"

"No time for questions!" The guard snapped. "Just follow me. Quickly."

Natsu closed his mouth, his eyebrows furrowing as the guard closed the cell back up behind the boy and began heading back up the stairs. Natsu followed behind him at a slower pace, obviously aggravating the guard but didn't have it in him to care.

There were many guards and other servants rushing around the castle as they passed by, each of them looking more and more disconcerted than the last. A woman with long, blue hair brushed past him rather rudely simply looking pissed at whatever was going on.

Before long, they reached the throne room.

Only three other people occupied the room. Natsu was not surprised to find the king standing in the middle, but his eyes widened at the sight of Lucy standing not far behind him, clutching at her skirt and keeping her eyes down on the ground.

He began approaching her, uncaring of the king currently being in the same space, but was stopped once he caught sight of the third person standing in the room.

"Gildarts!" Natsu shouted. He bounded over to the man and wrapped his arms around his leg. "You're finally here!"

He was just as he remembered. Albeit, he was only gone a couple months, but Natsu noticed a few differences. For one, his hair was a bit longer and scraggly, as was his beard, and his eyes seemed tired and sad. He wore a tattered, long, black coat that covered his body from his neck down to his ankles.

Gildarts chuckled, but it seemed forced. He reached down to ruffle the boy's hair then stepped out of Natsu's grip. "Good to see you, too, kid. Have you grown since I've been gone?"

"Uh, I don't think so."

"Are you sure? You seem a bit taller since last time-"

"Gildarts." The king interrupted impolitely, stepping forward. Gildarts rolled his eyes at Natsu, causing him to chuckle, then turned to face Judas. "You told me that you had some news. Shall we go talk in private?"

Gildarts sighed then nodded. With one last smile sent to Natsu, he walked off into a separate room with the king, leaving the children alone together.

"Yo, Lucy!" Natsu greeted her enthusiastically.

Lucy, however, did not return his enthusiasm. She gave him a very tight lipped smile then went back to staring at the ground.

Natsu walked over to her, bending at the waist to try and see her face only to have her turn away.

"Luce? Are you okay?"

"Y-yes." Lucy stuttered. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

Obviously, she was not telling the truth. Natsu immediately assumed the worse and grabbed Lucy's face, surprising the pitiful girl. He turned her head towards him so he could look into her face, but didn't find what he was looking for, thankfully. This, however did not soothe his anxiety. His eyes roamed down to her neck then grabbed her arms, pulling down her sleeves and even going as far as to pull up her skirt to look at her legs.

Lucy squealed and kicked him away. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Checking for bruises." Natsu admitted, rubbing the spot where Lucy had kicked him. "You usually don't act like this, but the last time you did was when your dad had hit you."

Lucy frowned. "He didn't hit me, Natsu. Besides, I…I deserved it last time."

"Are you kidding me?!" Natsu shouted, causing Lucy to jump. "You think you deserve that shit?! That's stupid, Lucy, and you know it!"

"Keep your voice down!" Lucy hissed back at him. "They'll hear you. Stop freaking out over nothing."

"It's not nothing! How can you just accept something like that?! You don't deserve it!"

"I said, knock it off! Just leave it be, Natsu. It's my own problem to deal with so just stay out of it."

Natsu clenched his fists, his nails biting painfully into the skin of his palm, but he ignored it. First Erza and now Lucy. Was this honestly how they felt? Natsu felt sickened by the fact that they both simply accepted Lucy's abuse as a regular thing that shouldn't be questioned nor mentioned.

He breathed in deeply then let it out slowly. "Fine. Have it your way. I won't bring it up again."

Lucy's eyes softened and she managed a small smile. "Thank you, Natsu. I know that it's hard for you to understand, but I'm just grateful that you're here."

Natsu smiled back at her, but it was clearly forced.

They stood quietly together in comfortable silence until Judas and Gildarts came back into the room. Judas looking more furious than Natsu had ever seen him and Gildarts looking troublingly unruffled.

"Lucy," The king barked, stalking up to the children. Natsu noted how Lucy flinched as her father approached. "You are to go to your room and not come out until morning. Understand?"

"Yes, father." Lucy answered him hurriedly. She gave Natsu a look before exiting the room.

"And you," Judas turned to Natsu with an unkind expression. "Go back to your cell, you little-"

"Not just yet." Gildarts intercepted him. "I called him out for a reason, Your Majesty."

The king stared daggers at the other man, daring him to challenge him once more. "I beg your pardon?"

"I need to talk to him." Gildarts replied confidently. The king opened his mouth to say something else, but Gildarts cut him off before he could. "Of course, I can always let the people in on your little secret if you won't allow me to speak to him. And, before you say anything, I can assure you that I could cause quite an uproar with the people in the time it takes to arrest and behead me as I am sure you are currently planning."

Judas literally quaked with anger. If he could spontaneously combust with the intensity of his rage, Natsu was sure he would any moment now.

The king gritted his teeth, but managed to collect himself. He stood up straight and fixed the crown atop his head, trying to seem as regal as he should be.

"Very well, Gildarts." He said calmly. "You've managed to get your way once again. But, believe me, I will not be making a habit of buying into your pathetic blackmailing schemes."

The king turned on his heel and left the room, purposefully ignoring the self-satisfied smirk on Gildarts' face.

He looked towards Natsu and laughed lightly. "Man, I thought he'd never leave. What do you say to ditching this place and going somewhere more private to talk, huh?"

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Natsu was not surprised to find himself sitting in the middle of the meadow once again besides his mentor. The scenery never ceased to amaze him as he looked up into the orange and pink cotton candy sky as the moon began its ascent into the sky to replace the sun.

"Natsu," Gildarts called to draw the boy's attention. "I assume you realize that we did not go all the way to Magnolia to fight a pack of Vulcans."

Natsu nodded. He assumed as much.

Gildarts smiled. "I knew you were a smart kid. You see more than people assume you do. But, that's not all you should know."

Natsu watched as the older man stood and grasped the edges of his long coat, pulling it open to reveal what he was keeping hidden underneath.

Natsu's eyes widened with terror and he let out a little gasp as he took in Gildarts' now mutilated body.

Where his left arm and left leg used to be were prosthetic wooden limbs, a metal plate over his knee working as his knee joint. Wrapping covered most of his torso, hiding whichever other wounds he might've underwent during his battle. What bothered Natsu the most were the two, very large stitched slices across Gildarts' chest, causing him to wonder what kind of creature could cause such huge gashes. He squinted and could just barely make out the edges of a black tattoo right over Gildarts' heart, the bandages hiding the rest.

Before he could attempt to make it out, however, Gildarts closed his coat back up.

He looked back up at Natsu solemnly. "I bet you'd like to know what we actually fought in Magnolia, wouldn't you."

Natsu blinked his reptilian eyes then nodded slowly.

Gildarts sighed. "Don't get too excited once I tell you this, but what we fought…it was a dragon."

"What?!" Natsu jumped up. "A dragon?! Was it Igneel?! Did you actually see him?!"

"You told me that Igneel was a fire dragon, right?" Gildarts questioned to which Natsu nodded to once again. "Then it couldn't have been him. The dragon we fought was black, merciless, and he used some kind of Lost Magic that we had no way of preparing ourselves for. Most of us were lucky to get away with our lives. That idiot king." Gildarts grumbled bitterly. "He might as well have sent us to our own funerals with the way he kept everything from us. Damn that bastard…"

Natsu did not know how to respond. He was both relieved and disappointed that the dragon Gildarts had met was not his father. He was also in awe over the fact that there was another dragon besides Igneel that existed, except this dragon did not seem to be as friendly as the fire dragon was. Not in the least bit.

But, where did he come from and where had he been hiding all of these years. Dragons were said to be extinct, right? Perhaps there were even more of them.

That's when Natsu realized that Gildarts had said _most_ of them got away with their lives.

"Did anyone…you know…?" Natsu asked hesitantly, not exactly anticipating the answer.

Gildarts lowered his eyes and turned his head away. His hands clenched into tight fists and shook slightly.

"Natsu," Gildarts said lowly. "Sit down for a moment. There's something I want to share with you."

Natsu was confused, but did as his mentor said and sat back down in the soft, green grass. Gildarts walked back over and sat beside the boy with little effort because of his prosthetics and metal kneecap.

"I haven't told you much about myself, have I, Natsu?" Gildarts looked over at him, expecting him to answer. Natsu shook his head and Gildarts smiled softly. "Sorry about that, kid. It's not because I don't trust you, or anything…It's just a little hard to. You see, when I was younger I had met a girl. I was a bit of a wanderer and never really settled down, that is, until I met her. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and I fell for her almost immediately. It took a while to convince her, but I eventually managed to make her feel the same way about me. After a while, we got married, naturally. This, however, wasn't enough to make me stay in one place for long. She came with me, tagging along with my idiotic adventures and never complaining no matter how much I knew she wanted to and I thought we were happy for a long while. But…I was so wrong. If only I had realized how she truly felt about never really having a place to go home to at the end of the day and live out our lives peacefully in. I knew that could never be the life for me and I thought she understood that. One day, I woke up and she was gone. All she left was the ring I gave her and a note saying how she can't live the way I do anymore and that she was leaving. She told me not to go after her, which I didn't. I didn't realize then how much I would come to regret that decision. I would have given her the world if she had asked for it, but all she ever really wanted was to settle down in an actual home with me and probably raise a few kids. I was so young and so stupid and I lost the only women I have ever loved because of it." Gildarts looked back over to Natsu who was looking up at him with curiosity and sadness in his eyes. "The reason I told you this is because I don't want you to end up like me. Sad and alone without a real home to ever go to. I want you to live the best life you can, kid. I want you to get out of here someday, out from underneath the king's thumb and able to carve your own path in life. Once you find something that means a lot to you, you'd better hold onto it with all that you've got or else you'll be regretting losing it for the rest of your life. Do you understand what I'm trying to say, Natsu?"

Natsu nodded slowly. "I…I think so."

Gildarts smiled, reaching over to ruffle Natsu's hair then stood up and stretched.

"Well, good talk, kiddo. This has been fun, but now I've got to take care of a couple things."

Natsu blinked. "Like what?"

Gildarts sighed sadly, crossing his arms across his chest and bowing his head. "I need to go find Erza and Gray. I've have some…unfortunate news I have to share with them before they hear it through the grapevine and no one wants that to happen."

With that said, Gildarts turned away and sauntered out of the meadow, leaving Natsu alone with his thoughts once again.

* * *

 **Oh my glob, guys! Drama bomb!**

 **Lucy is just as blind as Erza when it comes to abuse.**

 **The king is, once again, a royal asshole.**

 **So, there's another dragon besides Igneel! Who could it possibly be? (C'mon…)**

 **We get a look into Gildarts' past. Sad, isn't it?**

 **What news does Gildarts have to share with Gray and Erza?**

 **Find out all of this and more in the next chapters of My Guiding Flame!**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses!**

 **(I do not own Fairy Tail btw…)**


	12. Breathe

**Happy Holidays, my lovelies! I hope you've all had a safe and jolly Christmas (or whichever holiday you celebrate) and are looking forward to begin a New Year!**

 **I have one warning about this chapter and that is that it deals with some rather explicit content like child abuse and attempted rape. If you are easily put off by things such as this, I highly recommend skipping over the part that contains this content with this:**

 **####**

 **Read at your own risk.**

* * *

 **Help, I have done it again**

 **I have been here many times before**

 **Hurt myself again today**

 **And the worst part is there's no on else to blame**

 **Be my friend, hold me**

 **Wrap me up, unfold me**

 **I am small, and needy**

 **Warm me up and breathe me**

 **"Breathe Me" -Sia**

* * *

 **Chapter 12:**

As Gildarts had expected, Erza was yet again in the courtyard, hacking away at a post with her pitiful excuse for a sword. He could tell that she was bothered by something with the way she was posed and slightly quaking with the overflow of emotion. Her long, red braid down her back was coming untwined as she fought the inanimate object.

Gildarts walked up to her, stopping only a couple feet from the girl before calling out to her.

Erza jumped, her focus breaking and the thoughts she was having went interrupted. Her brown eyes widened at the sight of the man before her.

She dropped her weapon. "Gildarts! You've come back! Is my father with you? Is he injured? Is he in the recovery center?! If he is, please tell me so I can-"

Gildarts held up a single hand, signaling for the girl to quiet down, which she did.

Gildarts' face revealed nothing, but Erza could see something in the man's eyes that told her something was very wrong. Whatever news he had to share with her, she felt as if she did not want to hear it.

"Erza," Gildarts murmured gently. He closed the space between them and laid a hand on the child's shoulder in what he hoped to be a comforting manner. He looked into her eyes as he spoke. "Listen to me when I say that your father was a very valiant man. He did everything he could for Fiore and was nothing short of an amazing father to you. You know that, don't you?"

Erza could not speak so she only nodded slightly.

"I am so very sorry about this, Erza. Your father…he was killed in battle." He watched dejectedly as the light left in the young girl's eyes faded off and tears began to collect. She visibly paled and her form shook underneath his touch. "I know this is not easy for you to hear, but he did love you Erza. Very much so."

Erza gulped, which was a more difficult task to accomplish. She stepped back out of Gildarts' touch and, to his surprise, she smiled.

"I…I'm not surprised." She said in a shaky voice. "This is what he was meant to do, right? He died for our country and that's the way I'd like to go as well. S-so is the life of a soldier, right?"

"Erza." Gildarts said quietly. "You don't have to be strong right now. If you need to cry then-"

"W-who's crying?!" Erza reached up to rub at the moisture collecting in her eyes. "T-true, brave soldiers do not c-cry! I will be stronger for my father as he'd want me to be!"

Gildarts did not know how to reply.

Erza squared her shoulders and stood up straight, a hard mask coming over her face.

"I…I think I need to be alone now." She glanced at Gildarts who gave her a look, but disregarded it. She brushed past him. "If you'll excuse me."

Without waiting to hear his response, Erza ran out of the courtyard. Her sword laid forgotten in the dirt behind her.

Gildarts knew that he should go after her. She was only a ten-year-old girl no matter how strong she made herself out to be and there were a lot of creeps lurking around.

He was on the fence about following her or leaving her be. Instead, he chose to wait a while. If it turned out she simply wanted to be alone, she'd eventually come back. He'd wait for at least an hour before seeking her out once again.

He didn't realize what a mistake his decision would prove to become.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Erza didn't know where she was. She only kept running until she ran out of places to run to. Obviously she was in the village judging by the homes and shops surrounding her, but it didn't seem like a very nice part of the village.

Shady people shuffled about in their ragged clothing and permanent scowls on their face.

Erza prided herself on becoming strong and brave, but that didn't mean she was fearless. She huddled into herself, rubbing at her arms to fight off the cold and keeping her head down. She didn't want to see the sneering faces of the strangers around her in fear of drawing attention to herself.

He wished she hadn't have ran away, or at least ran away so far away from the safety of the castle. She wished she had stayed with Gildarts and talked with him more instead of putting on her strong face and shoving aside all of his efforts to comfort her. He had worked with her father plenty of times before and Erza had come to think of the older man and sort of an uncle. He genuinely cared for not only her but also Lucy, Natsu, and Gray.

However, this fact did not make Erza Scarlet feel any better.

How could it? What, exactly, could ever make her feel better right now? Absolutely nothing unless there was a chance her father was miraculously alive.

Erza's eyes widened and she slowed down a bit.

That was it! Gildarts must have been mistaken in saying that her father had perished in their battle. Erza supposed it was an easy mistake. But, if her father was still alive, why wasn't he here?

Erza knew she was deluding herself. If there was any chance her father was alive, Gildarts wouldn't have unnecessarily troubled her. He was careful about things like that so he must've been certain enough about it to inform her of it.

She still wished she hadn't have ran so far.

She found herself in a filthy alley way. How on Earthland did she get here?

She was ready to turn around when she felt a heavy hand land on her shoulder.

For a moment, she thought Gildarts had come to rescue her, but her hope was lost once the person holding her spoke up.

"Well, well, well." The voice, that seemed to belong to a man, said quietly. "What have we got here? Are you lost, cutie?"

Erza turned slightly to view the man behind her. She didn't feel fear since she had dealt with attacks before and dealt with them accordingly, but the sinister smile on the man's face caused her to think that he wasn't just looking for a pocket full of cash and an easy kill.

Not only that, but at least three other men flanked him with similar grins. Erza had taken on two men at the same time, but would she be able to handle four?

She was willing to try.

Erza reached towards her hip where she always kept her trusty wooden sword, but panicked once she realized that she left it in the courtyard before she ran off. She didn't particularly need it, but it made her feel a bit safer.

The eerie man reached up to grasp a lock of Erza's hair that fell out of her braid, pulling on it hard enough to make her wince.

"You got some pretty hair, pretty girl." He grinned at her. "You'd be surprised how much people are willing to pay to have hair like this."

"What do you say we cut a bit of it off, Boris?" Another man came up and sneered. He pulled a switchblade out from his back pocket, waving it threateningly.

Erza slapped at the man's hand to make him let go of her scarlet locks and backed away.

"I'm warning you right now, you cretins." She attempted to sound threatening, but the quivering in her voice threw off the entire frontage. "Do not come near me or I'll have to resort to-"

"Aw, isn't that cute, Butch?" The man named Boris said to his friend. "She's actually trying to threaten us. As if a little girl like her is going to give us any real trouble."

Butch cackled menacingly, both of them advancing towards Erza, following every step she took backwards until her back hit a brick wall. Now, she was nothing but a common damsel in distress, the one thing she never wanted to be.

####

She widened her stance a bit and held up her hands in preparation for a fight, but was not expecting two of the goons to grasp each of her arms too quickly for her reflexes to kick in and force her onto the ground. As two of them held her arms down, the other dug their knee onto her back painfully.

She cried out and struggled, but to no avail.

"I think it's time this little bitch learned her place, don't you think?" Butch pulled out his switchblade once again and grabbed a handful of Erza's hair and sloppily shorn through it.

Erza watched as the scarlet strands fell onto the filthy ground. She did not cry. It was only hair and it would grow back. But, the humiliation of being forced into such a position because of her own stupidity caused her to squeeze her eyes shut and pray to whoever was listening to rescue her from her current plight.

Chunks of hair littered the alleyway, but was soon picked up by the men who stuffed it into their pockets.

"What a haul." The third man laughed as he held up a strand as if it were some kind of trophy.

"Yes, but I don't think we're done here just yet." Boris claimed then returned to his position with a knee on Erza's back. "I think we need to teach this little girl to show some respect."

Erza was unsure of what the man was talking about, but immediately figured it out once his hands grabbed onto the hem of her blouse and began to pull it out.

Erza's eyes widened fearfully.

 _No! Not that! Anything but that!_

Erza thrashed wildly against the hold of the men. She attempted to scream, but a large hand covered her mouth before she could make a sound.

At this point, the tears she was forcefully holding back were flowing freely down her face. She whimpered pathetically behind the man's hand as her last shred of hope flew off like dust in the wind.

However, right before her eyes laid the knife Butch had used to cut her hair off. If she could somehow get to that then perhaps she'd be able to miraculously save herself.

Her shirt was nearly completely off her body, but instead of the men loosening her arms enough to slide her sleeves off like she hoped, they instead began to completely tear it off.

Erza didn't know what it was, but the feeling of the cold air hitting her suddenly bare back and the tearing sounds hitting her ears awakened something inside of her.

Then, it all went black.

####

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Once Erza came to, she discovered that each of the men were lying at her feet, motionless and bleeding.

This, however, did not concern her as much as the hovering knife above her head that was covered in blood.

She gasped and backed away, the knife quivering slightly before dropping down to the ground, completely inanimate as it should be.

Erza looked down at her own hands that remained clean aside from the dirt from the ground.

Had she done this?

Erza shook her head.

How could she have?

But, the knife that was floating in midair told a different story. Who else could have done that?

Could it be that she used…magic?

"Erza!" A familiar voice called out her name.

Erza sprinted to the opening of the alleyway where Gildarts was about to run past. He came to a screeching halt before her, taking in her shorn hair and torn blouse.

"Erza, what the hell happened to you?" Gildarts removed the cape from his shoulders and wrapped it around the girl. He kneeled down to meet her eyes. "Who did this to you? Where are they?"

Erza held up a hand and pointed back towards the alleyway, somehow without shaking.

Gildarts gave her a fleeting look before heading towards where she had pointed to and entering the dark, narrow space.

The three men remained unresponsive on the ground, their pockets full of red hair revealing that they, in fact, had been the ones who had attacked the girl. But, that did not explain why they were currently dead.

Gildarts walked back out of the alley. "Erza, what-"

"It was me." Erza blurted out.

"What? What was you?"

"It was me who killed them!" Gildarts opened his mouth to argue, but Erza did not give him a chance. "It had to have been me! I was the only other one with them and….and I somehow m-manipulated the knife to do what I w-wanted it to, but…I don't even remember doing it! I-I killed those men, Gildarts! I'm a murderer!"

Gildarts pulled the shaking girl into his arms, shushing her softly to ward off her self-induced panic attack.

"Erza," He said softly. "You are not a murderer. If you did kill those men, which I'm not saying you did, you did it purely out of self-defense and no one can fault you for that. Do not blame yourself."

Erza sniffled, hiding her face into the older man's broad shoulders.

"Gildarts," She whispered just as softly as him. "I-I…I used magic."

If Gildarts was surprised by this, he didn't reveal anything.

Erza continued on. "Magic is supposed to be nonexistent, but I…I used it without even a thought and killed those men with it. Am I a monster, Gildarts?"

"No." He said firmly. He pulled Erza back enough to look into her eyes. "If anyone is the monster here, it's them." He nodded back towards the alleyway. "As for your magic, I suppose we can't be sure until we test it out again."

"Test it out?"

"Yes. I will help you, Erza. If you are a mage then that fact shall lie only between us. Do you understand?"

Erza nodded.

Gildarts sighed and straightened up, a sudden weight bearing down on him like never before.

His job was not over for the day. Not by a long shot.

His next item on the agenda would possibly end just as well as his last.

* * *

 **Good thing about murdering people with weapons you can control without touching them: No fingerprints!**

 **But, in all seriousness I hope you all were not offended by the explicit text in this chapter. As you may recall from the Tower of Heaven Arc in Fairy Tail, Erza went through some serious shit to be able to unlock her powers and she did, in fact, kill quite a few people. Why? Because Erza is a boss like that!**

 **Anyways, I hope you all have a great New Year's Day and stay safe out there!**

 **To start off the new year, here's a sneak peek of the next installment of My Guiding Flame:**

 _ **Gray, you're leaving?**_

 **And I will leave it at that…**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses!**

 **(I do not own the anime or manga known as Fairy Tail)**


	13. Alone

**Happy Sunday, my friends! Are you enjoying your weekend! I hope you are!**

 **Anyways, I meant to upload this chapter yesterday, but my internet was unfortunately cut off for no particular reason and I had to wait for it to pop back on. But, whatever! You guys aren't here to listen to my problems, are you?**

 **Here is chapter 13 of My Guiding Flame!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **I'm so tired of being here**

 **Suppressed by all my childish fears**

 **And if you have to leave**

 **I wish that you would just leave**

 **'Cause your presence still lingers here**

 **And it won't leave me alone**

 **"My Immortal" -Evanescence**

* * *

 **Chapter 13:**

"No! You're lying! Get away from me!"

Gildarts sighed tiredly as the young boy struggled in his grasp. It wasn't hard to find him since he was well acquainted with Silver's sister and was privy to where Gray was currently staying and now possibly permanently staying.

The hard part was delivering the news to both Gray and Ur. Ur had taken the news as well as possible considering the circumstances and the fact that she was estranged from Silver for quite a while. Gray was an entirely different story.

"Gray," Gildarts said patiently. "I am not lying to you. This is not something I could ever joke about and I would not tell you this if there was a single doubt left in my mind. I am terribly sorry for this, Gray."

"No, you're not!" Gray shouted back at the man. Tears streamed down his face. His current verklempt disposition had his body quivering with all of the varying emotions. Anger, denial, frustration, fear, sadness. It was all too much to handle. "You're the one who's living! Not him! You were supposed to look out for each other and keep each other safe! Why didn't you?!"

"There was nothing I could do, Gray! By the time I found him, it was already too late."

"Bullshit! You were only looking out for yourself! You didn't give a shit about him! You don't give a shit about anyone other than yourself!"

Gray wriggled about until he was finally able to break out of Gildarts' hold. Gildarts watched as the young man raced off into the dense forest.

He moved to go after him, not wishing for a repeat of last time, but a firm hand on his shoulder caused him to stop.

"He'll be okay." Ur said softly as she stood beside Gildarts. "He's very overwhelmed right now and just needs to blow off some stream. He'll probably punch at a few trees until nighttime then he'll come home and lock himself away in his room."

Gildarts stared down at the dark-haired woman. "How do you know that?"

Ur sighed unhappily. "Because that's exactly the way Silver acted when our mother died when we were young. Gray doesn't realize how much of his father he has in him, but I can see it as clear as day."

As much as Gildarts wanted to run after Gray, he trusted Ur's judgement. She knew the boy better than him, after all. Besides, if her were the one to go after Gray, he doubted it would go over well. He nodded and turned on his heel to go back to the castle.

"Gildarts." Ur's voiced called out to him. He paused in his steps to look back at her. Ur stood with her arms crossed over her chest and an undefinable look on her face. "Don't take anything Gray said to heart. He was upset and said the first thing that popped into his head. He didn't mean it."

Gildarts didn't respond. He nodded slightly to show that he had heard her then turned back around.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Natsu was many things and patient was not one of them.

He was tired of Gildarts constantly putting off their training sessions. He was tired of Gray undermining him, tired of Erza demoralizing him, and tired of Lucy being so damn blind to what was happening in her life that she refuted any conversation pertaining to the topic of her abuse. But, mostly, he was tired of being holed up in the same damn place day after day because his father still remained unseen, unheard of, and completely uninvolved with Natsu's life at the current time.

It'd be a full year in a couple months since he first got here and that was one anniversary he was not looking forward to.

But, the thought over whether he even _wanted_ to leave anymore floated at the forefront of his mind. He's made some unexpected attachments during his time here and it wasn't like he was being treated like some sort of slave or animal. He was looked down upon, sure, but that was something he could handle. Perhaps he could leave then come back and see Lucy sometimes just to check on her. However, if he were to do that there was always the chance that he would get caught and be put back right at square one, once again locked away in his dank cell and trained to be a pawn in the king's sadistic game.

Natsu adventured into the courtyard where there was no sign of Gildarts or even Erza who he could usually find hacking away at a post imbedded into the ground. Natsu didn't understand the point of that. It's not as if the post could fight back. If she were looking for a fight, he was more than willing to comply.

Natsu sat against the wall of the castle, lost in his own boredom.

He began dozing off, but was soon quickly awakened by the sound of heavy footsteps heading his way.

He looked up to see Gildarts coming through the gates of the castle, his head hung low and a forlorn expression on his face.

Natsu jumped up and raced over to the man. "Hey, Gildarts! Are you ready to train today? You'd better be ready because today is the day I finally…"

Natsu trailed off and watched as Gildarts walked past him without even sparing a glance.

"Not today, kid." Was all he had to say.

Natsu felt his anger flare up and stomped over until he was directly in front of Gildarts, blocking his path.

"Why not? We haven't trained in months and you keep on putting it off. What's the deal, huh?"

"Things change, Natsu. I'm not in the mood for it."

Gildarts attempted to skirt around the boy, but, once again, Natsu placed himself in front of him.

"But, I'm really feeling it today! You said-"

"I know what I said!" Gildarts shouted out abruptly, causing Natsu to jump, his excitement diminishing and slight fear taking its place. Gildarts looked into Natsu's wide eyes, feeling even more guilt press down on him. He sighed and took the chance to go around Natsu. "I'm going to go have a word with the king and I'll be here to train with you tomorrow. Alright?"

Natsu shrugged indifferently, trying not to reveal his hurt feelings from being yelled at by the man he had to come to respect significantly. "Yeah, sure."

Natsu walked off, possibly back to his cell, without a backwards glance. Gildarts watched him go. Yet another child had walked away from him with resentment in their hearts.

He didn't mean to yell at the boy. He was at his limit for the day and wasn't up to being pushed. That was no excuse for raising his voice for the usually happy-go-lucky fire mage, but the entire day had been nothing but a taxing event and he'd like nothing better than to crawl into his cot and sleep the next few months away.

Unfortunately, that just wasn't in the cards for Gildarts.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Lucy was called into her father's office.

Usually, at least in her experience, this was not a good thing.

It either meant she was in a lot of trouble for doing something that was otherwise inconsequential, or her father was simply bored and wished to acquaint the back of his head to Lucy's face.

Either way, it wouldn't be much fun for the young girl.

She clutched at her dress as she paced in front of the large doors that led into her father's stately office, waiting for him to call her in. This was absurd. He was the one who wanted to see her immediately so why did _she_ have to wait for _him_? Granted, she didn't have anything better to do, but it still aggravated her.

Aquarius had been the one to tell Lucy that the king was requesting her presence. Aquarius liked Judas just as much as Lucy did, well aware of the indignities he bestowed upon the princess since she was the one who usually cleaned up her wounds and helped the child hide them with makeup if she so requested. She typically avoided the king if she could help it, but more often than not he used the nanny to get in contact with Lucy when he was too lazy to do it himself. That in itself was enough to make the blue-haired servant dislike the man. She hated being at anyone's beck and call and, as she consistently reminded Lucy, she was a nanny, not a slave.

"Lucy," A deep voice called out from beyond the doors. "You may enter now."

Lucy took in a deep breath before shoving the large doors open and stepping into the room. King Judas sat at a desk at the other end of the room, writing something down on a piece of paper in front of him. He didn't even look up once Lucy reached him

"You wanted to see me, father?" Lucy said quietly.

"Yes." Judas replied. He dipped his pen into a container of ink and resumed his writing. "As you well know, nearly nothing goes on in this kingdom without me hearing about it and I've been hearing some things involving you and that nanny of yours."

Lucy went rigid. "W-what do you mean?"

Judas looked up briefly to give his daughter a stern look. "You know perfectly well what I mean, young lady. Your nanny has been disclosing information that was meant to be under wraps to you in secret, has she not?"

Lucy began to quiver under his gaze. "I-is she not allowed to do that?"

Judas slammed his hand on the desk, the ink spilling over and dripping off the corner of the surface. Lucy flinched visibly and began backing away from the irate man.

"You know perfectly well that any information concerning the former queen is not to be disclosed to anyone at any time! If I hear word that you continue to pester the servants about her then I will be forced to take action and, trust me, you do not want that."

"Why not?!" Lucy blurted out before she could think better of it. "Why must she remain to be a secret? She's my mother! Do I not deserve to know-"

Her head jerked violently to the side and a sharp pain suddenly appeared on her cheek. She reached up to touch it with her hand then winced when it made her face throb.

"You will not speak to me with such impertinence, Lucy." Judas said gruffly, standing above the girl. "I have demanded something of you and you will do well to follow through with those demands. There will be no more talk of your mother from you or anybody else. That wench of a servant is lucky I do not banish her from the kingdom, or worse, behead her." He looked down at his daughter who had tears collecting in her eyes and gave her an unimpressed sneer. "You are dismissed, Lucy."

Lucy scrambled up and out of the room, not nearly getting out as fast as she wished to.

She let herself break down in tears as soon as she was in the safety of her room. Her cheek throbbed and she knew an ugly bruise coming along was imminent.

She let out a shaky breath and stood, ready to search for her nanny. She'd need a lot of makeup for this one.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

The next day, Gildarts didn't show up.

Natsu waited until late afternoon for his mentor to walk through the gates, but no show thing happened.

He growled in frustration, his hands igniting with balls of flame. With no outlet, they eventually died out along with his patience.

He huffed angrily and threw himself onto the ground, rolling onto his back to look at the sky and its many colors as the sun dipped into the horizon with the moon taking its place.

He shouldn't have expected anything. Why should he expect anything from anyone? It only proved to be disappointing. Natsu wanted to kick and scream, but managed to reign in his anger. There was no use in getting heated if he had nowhere to burn himself out.

He heard footsteps and immediately jumped up to look toward the gates. Unfortunately, the person he expected to come through the gates was not the one who did so. Instead, Gray Fullbuster walked through without conviction, his head hung low much like Gildarts' was just yesterday. Natsu had to wonder what was with everyone lately.

Despite his disappointment, Natsu smirked mischievously. He finally found his outlet.

"Yo, Gray!" Natsu waved at him, signaling for him to come over. "I haven't seen you in a while! You lookin' for a fight?"

Gray sneered, waving off the other boy's attempt for a brawl. "No." He said firmly, causing Natsu's face to fall. "I only came here to tell you something."

Natsu kicked at the ground. When will he be able to get in some sort of training? "Fine. What is it?"

"As you might've heard, my dad is dead."

Natsu's head jerked to look at the ice mage. This was news to him. Why hadn't anyone told him?

Gray continued on. "I've talked it over with my aunt and we agreed that there's nothing left for us here so we decided to move. The only real reason we were here in the first place is because my dad had to train you. So, with him gone, I no longer have a reason to stay here anymore."

Natsu gaped at him, either not following the conversation or not wanting to. "Gray, you're leaving?"

Gray looked to the side then nodded. "I just thought I'd warn you since…I guess I don't hate you as much as I used to. It'd just be kinda shitty of me to leave without giving you a heads up."

"Uh…yeah." Natsu mumbled. "I guess that's cool. Where are you going to go?"

Gray shrugged. "Ur said something about heading to Hargeon. I don't really care."

Natsu nodded. "Well, then…I guess this is goodbye."

"Yeah, I guess so."

After a moment of contemplation, Natsu reached out a hand, letting it hang in the air between the two of them. Gray stared at it, half expecting it to burst into flames the moment he made contact, but no such thing happened. He shook Natsu's hand respectively. To be honest, he was quite saddened to leave his friends behind.

"Maybe we'll meet again someday."

Gray smiled. "Yeah. Maybe. Pass the word onto Erza for me, would you? I tried, but I couldn't find her anywhere."

Natsu nodded once again, releasing Gray's hand and allowing the other boy to walk off and out of the castle walls.

He sighed heavily, leaning against the wall behind him.

He was alone. Again.

* * *

 **Geez, no one is having any fun today, are they?**

 **I feel bad hurting these innocent cinnamon rolls, but it had to be done.**

 **Anyways, favorite/follow and review if you like this story or if you just want to say 'Hello'! I'd appreciate it very much.**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses!**


	14. Alone Together

**I'm sorry. What was that? This chapter is late? Well, my darlings, something very important came up that kept me from writing this when I should have. What was that something? Pure laziness, my friends. I honestly have no other excuse.**

 **Please, forgive me.**

 **To make it up to you, I wrote this extra long, extra exciting chapter!**

 **Here is chapter 14 of My Guiding Flame!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 14:**

* * *

 **Say something, I'm giving up on you**

 **I'll be the one if you want me to**

 **Anywhere I would've followed you**

 **Say something, I'm giving up on you**

 **Say Something- A Great Big World**

* * *

Where has the time gone?

Natsu felt as if he had been brought to the castle only yesterday, but that wasn't the case. Day in and day out, he woke up, ate, trained, then went back to sleep. This was his permanent schedule now and he has learned to accept it no matter how tedious and sad it might have been. It wasn't like there was much he could do about it. Where else could he go? Back to Igneel? He wasn't there. He wasn't here either. He probably would never see him again. He had lost all hope that his father figure would rescue him from this purgatory.

It'd be to years tomorrow since he was stolen from his home. Two years of loneliness. Two years of disgusting, prison food. Two years of being confined in cell that seemed as if it was becoming smaller with each passing day.

He had officially ran out of people to talk to. Lucy had made herself more and more scarce soon after Gray left for whichever reason. He would ask her, but that would require them actually sharing the same space for more than five seconds. The most she has done was offer him a little wave when they passed each other in the halls of the castle or in the courtyard. Beyond that, he might as well not exist to her. He had come to think of her as his best friend, if not the only one. Unfortunately, Lucy didn't seem to feel the same way.

Which was fine with him. The less attachments he made in this place the better. It would just make it all that easier when he bails the first chance he gets.

Gray wasn't an option for obvious reasons. Him and his family left without a trace and never sent so much as a letter to make sure they weren't dead in a ditch somewhere. Natsu had grown to like Gray as a friend he likes to punch in the face and it sort of hurt that he never attempted to maintained contact. Natsu supposed that it was just something he had to live with.

As for Erza, he rarely saw her either. When he did, she was too spaced out to ever notice him. Once he saw her crying in a secluded space in the courtyard, clutching her choppy hair tightly in her hands. He knew better than to approach someone when they were in such a state, especially Erza. Natsu may have been miserable, but he did not have a death wish. Any other time, she was uncomfortably stoic and reserved that Natsu was usually too afraid to try and speak to her.

His last option was Gildarts. Unfortunately, Gildarts wasn't much for conversation unless they were training together. Natsu didn't know where he stood with the man anymore after Gildarts had snapped at him, but he missed lightly joking with his mentor and feeling able to share anything with him. Now, Natsu was sure Gildarts only saw the boy as his pupil and nothing more.

Needless to say, Natsu had very little people to talk to beside himself.

It was a sad existence, but it was officially Natsu's.

"That will be all for today, Natsu." Gildarts announced after a few hours of training.

Natsu stood and brushed dirt off his hand-me-down clothes that were a size too big for him. He had grown out of all of the other clothes the king was generous enough to give him, but, of course, he wouldn't bother giving the little mage clothes that actually fit him and smelled decent enough to wear. Natsu didn't mind, though. Before this, he wore pants made out of dried grass tied together with vines and nothing else. It was very itchy. If anything, smelly hand-me-downs were a major upgrade.

"Fine." Natsu mumbled off-handedly. "See ya tomorrow."

As Natsu began to walk away, Gildarts watched on.

He sighed sadly at the boy's downtrodden posture and expression. As Natsu had said before, it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that they boy was taken from the only home he had ever known and be forced into being built into some kind of war machine for King Judas. Gildarts wished to pull the boy into his arms and ruffle his hair like he used to do, but he was under strict instructions not to get any closer to the boy and to only engage with him whilst training and nothing more. It was infuriating to watch Natsu draw more and more into himself and not being able to do a thing about it. Gildarts felt as if he played a part in the boy's withdrawnness.

He shouldn't have gotten so close to him in the first place. He came here to train Natsu, but it was his conscious choice to befriend the kid to make him feel more comfortable with his situation and to pull away without any warning probably hurt Natsu a lot. With Gray gone, Lucy busy, and Erza traumatized, there was absolutely no one for Natsu to go to anymore.

Once again: It just wasn't fair.

"Say, Natsu!" Gildarts called out before he could think better of it. He didn't know what he was planning to say. He just had to say _something_.

Natsu stopped and turned. "Yeah?"

"Um…" Gildarts mumbled and scratched at the hairs on his chin. "I was just going to say…make sure to get plenty of rest tonight. We're going to start earlier than usual tomorrow so…"

Gildarts heart clenched when he saw Natsu's shoulders droop in disappointment.

"Yeah, sure." He muttered then turned back away.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Lucy looked at herself in the mirror.

Aquarius had told her that she looked exactly like her mother, Layla, but looking at herself right now, Lucy couldn't even see herself.

What she saw was a sad, little girl with too much makeup on her face and an ever-so-present frown marring her typically pretty face.

Behind her, Cancer combed her long, blonde hair and spun her locks into tight curls faster than Lucy could see. She sometimes liked to think that he used magic on her hair, but that ridiculous notion was thrown out the window.

"Is something wrong, ebi?" Cancer questioned her as he brushed out her bangs.

Lucy bit her lip as she thought. "Uh, not really. But…have you heard anything? About my father?"

Cancer shook his head as he snipped some hair. "I could not tell you, ebi. As far as I know, he's still in his office."

Lucy shook her head. She should have known. Why would she expect him to pay any special attention to her today? To him, it was probably just any other day.

"All finished." Cancer announced after another minute.

Lucy looked back into the mirror to review Cancer's newest creation. Her hair was significantly shorter in the curls, but she loved them just the same. She shook her head slightly just to see the curls swish around and spiral out then spring back into themselves. It was all topped with a red bow that matched her dress.

"It's lovely, Cancer." She offered the servant a small smile. "Just like always. Thank you."

"Keep that smile on, ebi." Cancer winked and smiled at her. "It completes the look. Happy birthday, Princess Lucy."

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

If there was one thing Lucy hated more than bad grammar and cliff hangers, it was parties.

She didn't know any of the people she was surrounded with besides the servants and was terribly uncomfortable with socializing with them without her father there to introduce them first. She knew that they were royals from neighboring kingdoms and they were all here to celebrate the anniversary of her birth, but, beyond that, she had no knowledge of who they were. They all seemed the same to her. Snooty, stuffy, self-centered, and materialistic shells of people.

"You look just as gorgeous as usual, Princess." An older woman said to her. Lucy already didn't like her. She was blocking her path to the buffet table. "Although, I haven't seen you since you were just a baby. My, how you've grown."

"Thank you, Miss…"

The woman laughed. "Oh, I didn't expect you to remember me, dear. I am Alavia. Duchess of Pergrande. It is a little ways from here, but I couldn't pass the chance to see the lovely Princess of Fiore."

"I see…" Lucy mumbled. She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and leaned slightly to look past the Duchess. Just behind the wall, Lucy caught a glimpse of blue hair and the swish of a skirt. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but someone else requires my attention at the moment. If you would please excuse me."

Alavia blinked in surprise, but smiled gently down at the girl. "Of course, dear. I'm sure you have plenty other guests to greet. I hope you have a great birthday, Princess."

Lucy bowed respectively then skirted around the Duchess and headed towards the wall. Sure enough, Aquarius stood behind it, waiting for her.

"Aquarius." Lucy sighed with relief. "Thank goodness you're here."

"Well," Aquarius huffed. "It's not like I have anything better to do when you're not around. Besides, I have something to give you."

"A present?!" Lucy squealed. "For me?!"

"Don't get too excited, girl! It's not nearly as glamorous as what most of these nobles have brought for you."

"I don't care about those! Your present will mean more to me than anything they might've gotten."

Aquarius smiled softly at the girl. She pulled out a small box wrapped in pink and topped with a red bow from behind her and presented it to the little princess. Lucy grabbed it greedily and tore it open. Inside was a velvet box and a film canister. Lucy shook it close to her ear, but didn't hear much beside something brushing against the sides. She deposited the canister and opened the velvet box. Inside laid a beautiful necklace with a moon-shaped pendant that had diamonds embedded into it.

Lucy's eyes sparkled as she held the piece of jewelry in front of her. "Oh, Aquarius! It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!"

"It was your mothers." The nanny replied calmly.

Lucy looked up in surprise then back down at the necklace. She held it in her hands, imagining her mother doing the same and felt a bit more connected to her. Lucy was overjoyed and threw herself at her caretaker, wrapping her arms around the woman's waist.

"Thank you so much, Aquarius! It's the best thing I've ever gotten!"

Aquarius reached down and patted Lucy's blonde hair, being careful not to ruin her curls.

After a moment, Lucy pulled away. She looked back at the canister in her hand and started to open it.

"Not here!" Aquarius hissed, placing her hand on top of Lucy's. "Open it when you're alone later on. This is for your eyes only."

Lucy was skeptical, but nodded in agreement. Aquarius was trusting her with something and she was not about to make her regret it. Lucy allowed Aquarius to help put on her new necklace then proceeded to tuck it into the collar of her dress. She wasn't sure how many people would recognize it as her mother's, but she wasn't about to take that chance.

Lucy returned to the party without anyone even batting an eye at her sudden but short disappearance. Of course, all of them were there to socialize and boast about their power and money to each other.

Lucy noticed her father drifting through the crowd, smiling and greeting people as he went on. Lucy knew better to think that he was here for her. This was nothing more than an excuse to flaunt what he had.

"There she is!" He exclaimed excitedly once his eyes fell onto her. Lucy automatically jumped at the sound of his voice. She didn't mean to. It was just a knee-jerk reaction at this point.

Judas waded through the crowd until he reached his daughter then grabbed onto her hand, pulling her into the sea of awaiting faces.

Lucy sighed inwardly.

This was going to be a long evening.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Lucy laid restlessly in her bed that night, her necklace settled on her collarbone and the canister sitting unopened on the table beside her. She had met so many people that she'd never care to know if any other situation, but it was what was requested of her by her father and she knew better than to disobey him. The Duchess of Pomegranate…or whatever it was, tried many times to start up conversations with Judas which he held respectively, but Lucy could tell that he'd rather talk to anybody else.

Lucy opened up all of her presents which turned out to be even more dresses, expensive paintings, less meaningful but equally expensive jewelry, and books. Lucy should've been happy with the last gift, but, after skimming through them, she concluded that they were nothing but boring old stories made to look exciting because of the pretty, embroidered covers. This just goes to show that the judging a book by its cover phrase should always be kept in mind.

Lucy grew weary of it all and made up some excuse to head to bed while the party went on without her. She could still hear the classical music if she listened hard enough. Judas was probably in his element. Surrounded by all of these adoring nobles who kissed his feet and praised him for his wealth and graciousness.

If they only knew.

 _That's it._ Lucy decided. _I've got to get out of here._

This wasn't the first night she laid awake thinking of escaping this hell. She couldn't even count on both hands how many times she wished to leave. The only problem was that she didn't know how to escape, where to go, or even how to survive outside of the castle. The only times she's been out of the castle is when she went with her father to meet and greet the citizens every now and then. Even so, she mostly stayed seated in the carriage and waved as they rolled down the streets. She never physically interacted with her citizens no matter how much she wanted to. She was supposed to be their queen someday, wasn't she? What kind of queen never takes the time to get to know her people?

Once again, Lucy wondered about her mother. Do the older citizens remember her and often speak about her or was her name a taboo just like in the castle? Lucy wondered why that was. Did Layla do something horrible? Lucy found that hard to believe with how Aquarius talked about her. But, Lucy's father was adamant about keeping every facet about the former queen a secret.

Whichever the reason, Lucy was determined to know.

She looked over at the canister once again then reached over to pick it up. She sat up in her bed and looked down at the object in her hand with curiosity. She _did_ want to open it, but something inside of her was keeping her from doing so. But, why not? It was hers now, wasn't it? Aquarius told her to open it when she was alone and there was not another soul in sight at the moment. All she had to do was pop open the top and pull out what was inside.

So, why couldn't she?

Growing frustrated with herself, Lucy threw off her covers and hopped out of bed. She deposited the canister in the pocket of her nightgown and exited the room. Taking a walk usually got her mind off things and there wasn't anyone to bother her since nearly everyone was still downstairs. Only a few guards lingered around, but they had greater concerns than the wondering princess.

As she walked, she came across the largest portrait in the castle. A portrait of her and the king standing beside each other. Lucy was only three at the time and yet she still looked so unhappy. Judas was still as stern as ever, his hand laying lightly on Lucy's shoulder as she attempted to smile at the artist, but anyone could easily tell that it was forced.

Lucy sighed and moved along.

Before long, she found herself walking in the direction of the dungeons. She frowned, recalling the last time she paid Natsu a visit. She felt horrible that she's been ignoring him for so long, but she just didn't want him to see her in this sort of state. He was well aware of her father's treatment towards her and didn't want to concern him further. Unfortunately, she became too busy with all of the lessons her father was throwing at her to visit him anymore. Her piano lessons became longer, her History lessons became more complicated as well as her English lessons, and her homework load kept her up nearly all night. At the end of the day, she was far too tired to visit her friend.

She hoped he understood, but that was probably asking too much.

Before she could stop herself, she was descending the steps once again.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Natsu's eyes popped open as the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs reached his ears. He remained still, trying to decipher who the intruder was by the sound of their steps. They were short and soft. Almost like…

"Lucy?" Natsu sat up to confirm his suspicions. Sure enough, there was Lucy standing just on the other side of his cell. He noticed that she was a bit taller and her hair was much longer.

Lucy fiddled with her gown as she looked everywhere but at Natsu.

"Hi." She greeted him shyly.

"Uh, hi." He replied. "What are you doing here?"

"I, um…I was just walking around and I thought it's been a while since I've seen you so I just…y'know."

Natsu narrowed his eyes at her. "No, I don't know. You've kinda been ignoring me for a couple years now, Lucy. You can't just come down here and act like nothing happened."

Lucy flinched visibly and tightened her grip on her gown even more. Natsu watched as her knuckles grew white, fearing that she was going to tear her clothes.

"I-I'm really sorry, Natsu. I wish I could tell you that I have a really good reason for not talking to you, but…I can't because I don't. I've just been…scared."

"Scared of what?!" Natsu snapped at her. His face fell. "Of me?"

"No! No, of course not! It really has nothing to do with you."

"Gee. Thanks."

"That's not what I-"

"Just tell me what you came down here to tell me, Lucy. Otherwise, just get out of here."

Lucy was startled by the cold way Natsu was acting towards her, but she supposed that she did deserve it.

Lucy sighed wearily. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for how I've been treating you. I should have just told you that I'd be too busy to see you sometimes instead of stopping altogether. I don't expect you to forgive me, but I just wanted to get it off my chest. If you never want to talk to me again, I'll understand."

Lucy waited a moment for Natsu to respond. He kept his face turned away from her as she spoke and his expression remained impassive. If she learned anything from people's body language, he was either thinking or pretending she wasn't there at all.

Either way, Lucy decided that he wasn't up for a conversation at the moment and began to turn to leave.

"Wait!" Natsu called out suddenly.

Lucy stopped and looked back at Natsu in surprise.

Natsu stood up from his mattress and walked closer to the bars of the cell. Lucy walked closer as well, almost magnetically gravitating towards him. Natsu fed his hand through the opening and grabbed onto Lucy's.

"He's still doing it, isn't he?" He mutter ambiguously.

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows as she attempted to decipher what he meant by that. Her eyes widened as she came to a realization. Of course Natsu would be the only one who'd be able to see through her. Through all of the makeup and the false smiles she puts on in front of others. How he did it? Lucy did not know. Perhaps she didn't put on as good of a show as she thought she did.

Lucy squeezed her eyes shut, focusing the warmth in her hand. She nodded silently.

Natsu's face hardened, though she couldn't see it. Any normal person wouldn't be able to see a difference in Lucy's features, especially in the dark. Luckily, Natsu wasn't a normal person. Without even squinting, he could see the thick layer of that dusty material Lucy liked to put on her face whenever she wanted to cover something up. The problem was that she had never used this much before.

"It's getting worse." Natsu stated. He reached up and ran a finger along her cheekbone, most of the dusty stuff came off as he did so. Underneath it was an older, yellowish bruise that she winced at when he put slight pressure on it.

Lucy watched as hatred filled Natsu's eyes and pulled away from his hand. "It's not that big of a deal, Natsu. I deserved-"

"Don't."

Lucy blinked. "What?"

"Do not say that you deserved it." Natsu hissed. "Lucy, I can't even begin to tell you how messed up this is! You can't honestly say that you deserve it every time he hits you!"

"But, I-"

"Stop making excuses for him! He's supposed to be your dad and good dads don't hit their kids for no reason!"

Lucy made a face at his statement and shook her head. "I don't want to talk about that right now. Can we just…talk about something else? Anything else."

Natsu sighed, but grudgingly gave in.

Fortunately, due to the two years they missed out on each other, they had plenty else to talk about. Natsu talked about Gray and Erza's absence and Gildarts' standoffishness. This only caused Lucy to feel even more guilt over practically pretending that he didn't exist. She honestly couldn't remember why she thought it was a good idea in the first place. Natsu was quite honestly the only one she was able to talk to about anything besides Aquarius, but even them Lucy had some limitations when it came to her nanny. Lucy was sad over the fact that both Gray and Erza's fathers died and that caused them to be reclusive. She never personally knew the men, but could relate to having a parent taken away from you despite the fact that she never even got to meet her mother.

Lucy didn't have much to speak about herself besides her lessons, but once she began talking about her birthday party, Natsu grew more interested.

"People have parties for their birthdays?" He asked curiously.

"Sometimes." Lucy shrugged. "But, for us _nobles_ ," Lucy scoffed at the word. "it's just an excuse to get together and brag to each other about our wealth. It's actually really boring."

"Did you get anything neat?"

Lucy smiled brightly and reached down into her gown to pull out her necklace. "Aquarius gave me this. She said that it was my mother's. Isn't it pretty."

Natsu didn't really care much for jewelry, for obvious reasons, but the look on Lucy's face caused him to smile as well. "That's really cool, Luce. Did you get anything else?"

Lucy wrinkled her nose. "Just a bunch of materialistic stuff from the others. Except for," Lucy reached into her pocket to pull out the canister. "this. Aquarius gave it to me, too."

Natsu stared at it in wonder. "What is it?"

"It's a film canister. But, I'm pretty sure it doesn't have film in it."

"Open it!"

Lucy looked dubious. "I don't know. Aquarius told me to only open it when I'm alone."

"You can trust me, Luce. I won't even look at it if you don't want me to."

Lucy looked over at him, finding no dishonesty. She knew she could trust him, but it was the principle of the matter. Aquarius gave her strict instructions and she didn't want to betray her trust. But, how would she be able to find out if she did open it in front of Natsu? It wasn't like Natsu had anything to gain by telling anyone what the canister held even if she was afraid she couldn't trust him. Besides, who would believe him?

Lucy shrugged to herself. What's the worst that could happen?

Having her mind made up, Lucy popped open the top and reached inside.

* * *

 **Oh my goodness!**

 **What's in the film canister?**

 **I know what y'all are thinking.**

 _ **Bunny-chan, when are they going to grow the hell up?**_ **or _Bunny-chan, when is Fairy Tail going to come into the equation?_**

 **Be patient, my dearies. This story is a slow burn, but we'll get to the good stuff soon enough.**

 **Until then, please bare with me.**

 **Until next time, my lovelies!**

 **Kisses!**

 **(I do not own the Fairy Tail)**


	15. Changes

**Good evening ladies and gents! (Actually, it's like 2 AM)**

 **I don't have much to add on before we begin the chapter so let's just get on with it.**

 **Here is chapter 15 of My Guiding Flame!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 15:**

* * *

 **I was born by the river**

 **In a little tent**

 **Oh, just live the river I've been running ever since**

 **It's been a long, long time coming**

 **But, I know**

 **A change gon' come**

 **Oh, yes it will**

 **"A Change is Gonna Come"- Sam Cooke**

* * *

As much as it may seem so, Judas was not a fan of crowds. Yes, he threw plenty of parties and made brief appearances in all of them, but that didn't particularly mean he enjoyed the company of so many people at once. They were so many faces to remember and nobles to speak to that they all begun to run together at some point. To him, they were nothing but scum loitering in his home.

He's talked with Lords, Ladies, Dukes, Duchesses, Kings, Queens, and various other aristocrats all in the same night and he was just about through with it. It was nearly two o'clock in the morning and the party was thankfully drawing to a close.

His guests began to file out in spurts until they was finally room to breathe in the spacious ballroom. Most people wished to see the princess one last time and bid her farewell, but left in disappointment once the king informed them that the princess was not feeling well and retired. Of course, they didn't know that she was blatantly lying and just wanted to get away. Judas couldn't be upset at her for that. He'd take any chance to get away from the party as well.

Judas was in the process of receiving a rather lengthy goodbye from the Duchess of Pergrande, a woman he has seen eying him ever since he made his appearance, when he noticed a cloaked figure sweep into the room and loiter in the shadows. Judas squinted his eyes to try and figure out who it could be and was able to pick up a glimpse of auburn hair.

"So, what do you think, your Majesty?" The Duchess captured his attention one again with a hopeful gleam in her eye.

Judas blinked and looked back down at the women. "I am sorry, Madame. Could you repeat that, please?"

"The union, my king. Between the princess and my son?"

Judas stared at her for a moment, then shook his head. He knew very well what she was speaking of, but wasn't exactly in the mood to continue the conversation at the moment.

The king offered her a patient smile and bowed slightly. "I apologize once again, Alavia, but we will have to continue this conversation at a later date. I have more pressing matters to attend to. Have a safe trip home, Madame."

Without waiting for her reply, Judas side-stepped the woman and began to make his way over to the awaiting figure on the other side of the room. Gildarts watched as the regal man approached him, the corner of his lips turning down into a frown.

"Gildarts." The king addressed him once he was close enough. "I didn't expect to see you here. Do you require something of me?"

Gildarts held back the urge to roll his eyes. "No, sir. I just came here to give the princess something."

Judas narrowed his eyes. "I'm afraid my daughter retired early today."

"That's fine. Could you just give this to her for me?" Gildarts reached into his cloak to produce a medium-sized, crudely wrapped gift box.

"And why, exactly, would _you_ have gotten something for me daughter? Are you familiar with her, Gildarts?"

Gildarts' hands unconsciously balled up into fists against his sides. "No, your Majesty. We've only encountered each other a couple times in the castle, but that was all. I simply thought that it'd be respectful of me to present something for the princess on her birthday. Is that a crime?"

"It depends." Judas reached over to snatch the box from Gildarts and shook it. Gildarts gritted his teeth, but made no move to stop him. "What's in it?"

"If you must know," Gildarts said through his teeth. "it is a charm I made out of the bark of a redwood tree. I know you nobles are not much for homemade gifts, but I thought Princess Lucy of all people could appreciate it."

Judas sneered in a very un-royal like manner and began to unwrap the box in front of Gildarts' eyes.

"Don't you think it rude to tear open someone else's present?"

The king ignored the other man and reached into the box. What he pulled out didn't look like much to him. It _was_ a wooden carving, and very intricate and lovely at that, but of what? The king turned it over in his hand to try and decipher it.

"It's a fairy." Gildarts pointed out impatiently.

Judas looked back up at Gildarts. "Fairies don't exist."

"Mages aren't supposed to exist either." Gildarts shrugged.

The king mumbled something incoherent and possibly insulting before placing the carving back into the box and closing it up.

"I'll leave this in Lucy's room for her to look at once she wakes up. She's always reading those idiotic stories about mythical creatures and far off lands all the time in her books. I'm sure she'll appreciate it."

Gildarts nodded in acceptance. He didn't figure that he would be able to personal give it to Lucy, but the least he could do was try. He knew how miserable that girl was to be locked up in this horrid place with little to do besides learn inconsequential things twenty hours out of the day. She could use something new and exciting in her life even if it is just a silly little charm.

"By the way, Gildarts," The king continued on. "How is the fire mage doing? I take it his training is going well?"

"He's doing fine, your Majesty."

"Is that all you have to report?"

Gildarts growled lowly. "He'd do better if I had some assistance. Unfortunately, you've managed to kill off the only person how could possibly handle such a task. Or have you already forgotten?"

"Quiet!" Judas hissed and looked around him to check if anyone had heard Gildarts' accusation. Thankfully for him, none of the remaining guests seemed to notice. "You would do well not to mention such things in front of my guests, Gildarts. Throwing such accusations around could potentially lead to an uproar."

"Accusation?" Gildarts scoffed bitterly. "I beg your pardon, sir, but that is a fact! You sent us off into a completely one-sided battle without any information pertaining to what we were about to go up against. We were completely ill prepared and thrown off because of you! Do you know how many wives lost their husbands?! How many children lost their fathers?!"

"I was not aware of what you were up against either, Gildarts!" Judas retorted, causing Gildarts to pull back and stare on in confusion. "I've only heard of something abnormal occurring in Magnolia that had to be more than just Vulcans. I only sent you men off to confirm my suspicions. I never would have guessed it would turn out to be a god damn dragon!"

"Then you shouldn't have sent us in the first place! You had us march to our early graves because you had a suspicion?! Half of your men were killed!"

"They were expendable men, Gildarts." Judas sneered. An unnerving smile stretched across his face. "As soon as that little monster is capable enough, I would have no need for any other soldier. They would merely be for decoration if nothing else."

Gildarts eyes widened and a sickly feeling settled in his gut. His nails dug into the palm of his hand painfully, but it was nothing compared to the sudden fear that gripped his heart. Judas was truly power hungry, but Gildarts didn't know to what extent until now. As long as Natsu became the war machine the king wanted him to be, nothing else mattered. He would send any and all of his soldiers into a losing war just because they were disposable without even thinking about the lives they might've had. The families they've built along with all of their dreams and aspirations. None of it even mattered. Of course, every soldier came into the king's court knowing fully well that they are required to lay down their lives for the kingdom, but the hope that in every battle they fought, they would come out alive. But, even if all the men were trained to the best of their ability, there was just no winning when it came to that dragon. The thing was a monstrosity. It was something Gildarts had never come across in his journeys, though he had heard rumors about dragons which he brushed aside. It wasn't that he thought dragons were extinct. He was more open-minded than that. He just had more sense than to listen to silly rumors spouted by paranoid people. For once, he wished he would have just listened and trusted his intuition.

Despite all of this, Gildarts knew that Natsu was not capable of what the king wanted him to be. He was too pure, too innocent and a bit dense. Gildarts imagined Natsu's toothy grin that has become so rare lately and inwardly smiled. He attempted to imagine Natsu in battle and with blood on his hands, but couldn't complete the image. It was simply implausible.

But, the king couldn't know that. He'd break Natsu's spirit if he heard of any sign of weakness. Judas was dead-set on making Natsu a warrior and would do anything to get what he wanted.

Gildarts couldn't let that happen.

He took a deep breath to try and calm himself before addressing the king. "What about me, your Highness? Am I expendable, as well?"

Judas had the nerve to chuckle. "Don't be ridiculous, Gildarts." He waved the man off. "You are far too valuable to kill off just like that. I knew you could handle anything Magnolia held. Besides, as you've said, you're the only one capable of training Natsu like I want. I can't have you dying on me anytime soon."

This just opened more topics Gildarts wished to bring up and argue about, but he held his tongue. He could stand here and fight with the king until he was blue in the face and it wouldn't make any difference. It was nearly impossible to dissuade the king once he had made a decision.

Unfortunately for the king, Gildarts has also made a decision and he could be just as stubborn if not more.

Judas watched as the other man pushed away from the wall and walked off to god knows where. Thankful for the lack of eyes on him, the king let the grin on his face slip. Insolence and insubordination were not things Judas took lightly. His role required power, wealth, determination, and respect. If he didn't have that, what did he have? Absolutely nothing. Gildarts has always been a bit of a renegade and was less susceptible to listen to orders if he didn't agree with them. Judas knew what he was getting himself into when he requested Gildarts to train the fire mage, but he didn't have a lot of options.

Besides, just like Judas, Gildarts had plenty of secrets he'd prefer to keep under wraps that the king was well aware of. If Gildarts stepped too far out of line, his closet full of skeletons would be opened for everyone to see and he knew that.

Judas smirked maliciously.

It was good to be on top.

He looked back down at the box in his hands and decided to place it in his daughter's room before he retired. He originally thought about simply throwing it out or putting it in a furnace, but what harm could a little wooden charm do?

He rarely, if ever, visited his daughter's room if he didn't immediately require something of her and couldn't find a servant to do it for him. However, once the king opened the door Lucy's room, the present in his hands fell to the floor.

For, the princess was not in her bed as she should be.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

"So, what's in it?" Natsu asked eagerly as Lucy looked at the object in her hand.

"It's a note, I think." Lucy turned the folded scrap of paper in her hand. On the front, displayed in cursive handwriting, was her name. The paper was yellowed, showing that it was fairly old and rarely touched.

Lucy unfolded the paper to begin reading it, but found it hard to with the lack of light.

"Um, Natsu? Do you mind doing that thing with your hand?"

Natsu cocked his head to the side. "The thing with my hand? Oh! You mean this?" He held up his hand and set it aflame, lighting up the room with an orange glow.

"Perfect." Lucy smiled at him then directed her attention back at the note. She squinted harder. "It's kind of hard to make out. The writing is really pretty, but kinda hard to read. Plus, it looks like it got wet at some point."

Natsu held his hand closer, but far enough not to set Lucy or the paper on fire. "Is this better?"

Lucy nodded distractedly as she held the note closer to her face. "I think I can make out the first line. "It says, _Dear Lucy…_ Well, that's a start."

"Let me see." Natsu held out his other hand which Lucy placed the paper into. He wasn't much for reading, but picked up a few things when Lucy was willing to teach him. " _Dear Lucy, you may not know me, but I certainly know you…_ That's pretty ominous."

"Keep going!"

"Alright! Geez… _It pains me to know that we might never meet, but some things just can't be helped. I cannot tell you why we were never able to meet, but the reason will become app…appa…"_

"Apparent?" Lucy assisted him.

"Yes! _The reason will become apparent when you're much older. Just know that most of the questions you may have might not have an immediate answer, but that does not mean you will be in the dark forever_." Natsu paused when he saw the faraway look in Lucy's eyes. "Do you want me to keep going?"

Lucy pursed her lips. She held out her hand for the note which Natsu gave back to her without hesitation. He watched as her eyes roamed over the page and her eyebrows scrunch up in both concentration and confusion.

"Who do you think wrote it?" He asked her.

Lucy shrugged. "I don't know, but whoever it was misspelled a lot of words. It's like they're talking in riddles, too. A lot of what they say is just nonsensical paragraphs. There's not even a signature."

"That's weird. What did they mean by they know you, but you don't know them?"

Lucy shrugged again. "I am just as informed as you are, Natsu."

Natsu pouted and sat back. Lucy read on, her eyebrows doing that scrunchy thing every now and then as she tried to make sense of the letter.

As she did so, Natsu picked up the noise of a door opening and the telltale sound of footsteps beginning down the stairs.

"Crap!" He exclaimed in a hushed voice. "Lucy, someone's coming!"

"What?!" Lucy folded the paper back up and stuffed it back into her pocket. "Who?!"

"I don't know, but it must be a man or a really fat lady because they're footsteps are pretty heavy."

"What do I do?! What do I do?!"

"I don't know! I don't know!"

"Lucy?"

Both children froze at the sound of the new voice. Lucy felt a shiver go up her spine, fully recognizing who it was while Natsu felt himself tense. Either way, neither of them were particularly excited to be caught by him.

Lucy sighed and let her shoulders drop, reverting back to the timid, obedient mask she always wore around her father. "Yes, father. It is me."

Judas walked up to her and crossed his arms as he sneered down at the girl. "There'd better be a good reason why you're down here."

"Uh, there is!" Lucy place her hands behind her back in an attempt to appear innocent. "I, uh…dropped something! So, I came down here to get it and-"

"Do not lie to me, Lucy." Judas interrupted her. "You have ten seconds to tell the truth."

"She is telling the truth!" Natsu interjected. Judas looked over at him with a look of distaste. "She really did drop something and it fell down the steps so she came to get it. That's all."

Judas stared at the boy for a long moment, but Natsu did not back away from the king's glare. Instead, he stared right back.

Judas scowled and looked back at his daughter who was looking at Natsu. "Go to your room, Lucy. I am far too exhausted to deal with you right now, so meet me in my office in the morning. Understand?"

Lucy nodded then hurried off to do what she was told, thankful that the situation did not grow to be worse then she thought it'd be. But, there was still tomorrow.

Judas turned to follow behind his daughter, then paused to look back at the young boy on the other side of the cell. This had to be the first time they were ever alone together. Even when they had first met, several guards in the room bore witness to Natsu's meltdown when Judas informed him that he was not going to be returning to his home anytime soon. Judas never particularly wanted to alone with the boy. He was a mage that he accepted into his guard for the sole purpose of carving him into a weapon of mass destruction to win in all of his wars and nothing more.

But, apparently, Lucy did not share the same thoughts. Judas came to his own conclusion that this wasn't the first time the princess had been down in the dungeons to visit Natsu by the panicked voices he heard while coming down. If he had to guess, Lucy did it pretty often.

Judas didn't like that. Not one bit.

Judas walked back over to the prison and knelt down to meet Natsu's eyes. He was a bit taller than he remembered, but he was still just a boy that could be just as easily manipulated than any other person.

"So, tell me, Natsu," Judas spoke in a low, ominous tone. "how familiar are you with my daughter? You seemed quick to defend her earlier."

Natsu, however, was not easily intimidated despite his size. He maintained eye contact with the king and smiled. "I don't have to tell you anything."

This made the king laugh. "Oh, my dear boy. I'mnot sure you know how things work around here. You see, I may not kill you, but I am fully capable of making your life a living hell if you dare cross me. I am not above torture. Even if you are just a child still."

 _Of course you're not_. Natsu thought to himself.

Judas leaned closer to the prison bars. "I know what you're doing, monster. You're putting on this little tough act to make me think that you're not afraid of me. You think you can get away with anything just because I plan on utilizing you in my court? Guess again, boy. I can and will break you if you so much as look at my daughter again. You are here to become stronger and nothing more. You will not speak to my daughter. You will not speak of my daughter. You will not think of my daughter. If you decide to disobey me and continue trying to make my daughter into your little 'friend', I will be forced to take action." The king stood, brushing invisible dust off of his suit. He smiled down at Natsu. "The choice is yours, Natsu. Be sure that it's a good one."

With that said, Judas walked away from the cell and back up the stairs as Natsu watched on in silent terror.

* * *

 **Oh, snap! They've been caught! And by the worst possible person, too.**

 **What does Gildarts have planned?**

 **What was in the rest of that letter?**

 **What's Judas going to do to Lucy?**

 **What am I asking you all these questions?**

 **Find out all of this and more in the next chapters of My Guiding Flame!**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses!**


	16. Riot

**Good evening, my lovelies!**

 **I have not slept in 34 hours! Hallelujah! My new record!**

 **So….yeah.**

 **Here is chapter 16 of My Guiding Flame!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 16:**

* * *

 **If you feel so empty**

 **So used up, so let down**

 **If you feel so angry**

 **So ripped off so stepped on**

 **You're not the only one**

 **Refusing to back down**

 **You're not the only one**

 **So get up**

 **"Riot"- Three Days Grace**

* * *

It wasn't like Natsu to be so downtrodden. Typically, he could be seen with a smile on his face and tons of energy to share. But, not today. Today, he sat stoically in the middle of the meadow he and Gildarts practiced in with his head in his hands and a faraway look in his eyes. The faraway look was common and could be seen when he was either thinking about his father, Lucy, or his imprisonment in the castle. What he was thinking of now was anyone's guess.

Gildarts sighed and leaned back against the trunk of the tree on the edge of the grassy opening. Training did not go well that day. Natsu was too distracted and took a lot of hits because of it. Gildarts wanted to scold him, but learned the hard way that Natsu did not respond well to verbal assaults. He'd rather be taken aside, shown how to correct himself then would immediately grasp onto the new information and proceed to better himself successfully. That's what Gildarts liked about training Natsu. He never whined about things being too hard or not hard enough, didn't talk back or question his mentor, and he never quit. He worked hard, did as he was told, and was respectful throughout it all.

But, lately, he's been beginning to lose that light Gildarts had begun to admire when he first met the boy. Of course, he wouldn't tell the older man why. Gildarts figured that that was partly his fault once again.

Their training for the day had drawn to a close and yet neither of them seemed to want to go back to the castle. They had about an hour left before a couple guards would be sent to retrieve them.

Gildarts figured that he might as well make the best of it.

He pushed off of the tree and started towards the pink-haired boy sitting in the grass. Natsu heard the man approach, but didn't acknowledge him.

"Hey, kid." Gildarts greeted him casually. "What are you thinking so hard about over here?"

Natsu shrugged and turned his face away.

Gildarts frowned. He didn't expect more than such a response, but hoped he would at least get a single word out of him.

He moved to sit next to the boy, ignoring the way he subtly tried to shift away.

"Natsu, we need to talk."

"'Bout what?" Natsu mumbled.

"Me. You. Us. Everything."

Natsu picked his head up to look over at Gildarts, his eyebrows wrinkled in befuddlement. "What are you talking about?"

Gildarts turned to face Natsu more and looked him in the eye. "Natsu, I know you're still just a kid, but there are certain things you need to come to understand, alright?"

"I'm not a kid!" Natsu argued indignantly. "I'm ten now…I think. Or am I eleven?"

"You don't even know your own birthday?"

"Well, Igneel found me when I was just a baby," he shrugged. "but he never knew when I was born so we just celebrated the day he found me every year."

Gildarts saw a bit of the spark Natsu once had flash in his eyes, but it disappeared a second later.

"You really miss him, don't you?"

Natsu flinched, not expecting the question.

This made him question himself. Did he miss Igneel? Of course, he missed the time they had together, all that the dragon has taught him and enjoyed being raised by the creature. So, in theory, he did miss him. But, the question was, did Igneel miss him?

In response, Natsu shrugged again.

"What if I told you…" Gildarts continued. Natsu looked up at him. "that you could see Igneel again?"

At this, Natsu jumped up. "That's not funny, Gildarts! You can't just promise something like that!"

"No, I can't. But, I _can_ promise that I will help you."

"Oh, yeah?" Natsu retorted, looking unamused and surprisingly stern. "How are you going to do that? We're stuck here for, like, ever!"

Natsu stomped a few feet away, kicking at rocks and dirt before he realized that Lucy would kill him if she found her meadow and disarray and began attempting to arrange things back into pristine position. Gildarts watched on with an amused smile. He may not be all-knowing, but he could see the amount of affection Natsu held for the princess even when they weren't together. It's been a couple weeks since the birthday party and Natsu seemed a bit better, but became more sidetracked. Gildarts figured that he was able to speak to Lucy again after all that time apart, but that interaction didn't seem to end well. They haven't talked much since then, but every time Gildarts entered the castle to fetch Natsu for their training session, there was Lucy. Granted, she was usually hiding behind a wall and waving at him as he left, but she was always there. If Gildarts was any other person, he wouldn't allow the two children to get close in the first place lest something very unfortunate happens between them that could inevitably lead to something even more unfortunate. However, Gildarts thought Natsu could use a friend when Gildarts couldn't be there for him. He was starting to think that he might've made a mistake.

"Natsu," Gildarts called him back over. Natsu halted in his fretting over the ground he kicked up and walked back over. "Listen to me, kid. I might have a plan on how to get us out of here, but I need you to pay very close attention and not question me."

Natsu didn't exactly like Gildarts' wording, but kept quiet so Gildarts could go on.

"I'm going to get you out of here." Gildarts stated with no conviction. Natsu stared at him then opened his mouth to speak, but Gildarts quickly cut him off. "You shouldn't be here, Natsu. You shouldn't be forced to become some…some…super soldier for that damned sadist and I can't allow you to work underneath his thumb anymore. You'd be surprised at how much he actually trusts me, so I highly doubt he won't bet on me taking you with me if I just…disappeared. I've been known to do it a lot and, most times, nobody finds me unless I want them to. We can just go right now, Natsu, and nobody would be the wiser. What do you think?"

Natsu wasn't sure if he could respond even if he wanted to. He blinked owlishly up at his mentor, going over the man's words in his head over and over again.

Leave? Just like that? They could've left anytime they wanted to and Gildarts had just brought it up now after all of these years? However, Natsu wasn't angry at him. A year ago, even if Gildarts had offered, Natsu wouldn't have gone with him even if he had offered. There was still a touch of distrust between them since Gildarts was working for the king and he might've thought that it was a trap. There was still distrust in their relationship, but not as much as there used to be. Natsu was now sure that Gildarts disliked the king almost as much as he did and didn't want to work underneath such a tyrant any longer.

Natsu did desperately want to leave and go find his surrogate father, but there was still other matters that needed to be taken care of first.

"That sounds great, Gildarts." Natsu said quietly. "But, what about Lucy? Or Erza? She's all alone now with her dad gone. We can't just leave her."

Gildarts nodded thoughtfully. "Of course, we can't. Taking her with us shouldn't be a problem and convincing her to leave shouldn't be hard either. She's never had any real connections to this place where her father wasn't involved and she's been a bit…unstable ever since. No one would be surprised if she just vanished, too."

Natsu felt a bit of tension leave his soldiers, automatically relieved. "And Lucy?"

To Natsu's ire, Gildarts shook his head solemnly.

"There's not much I can do for the princess, Natsu. It'd cause too much of an uproar if we were to just take care. Plus, if they ever found us, we'd be put to death before we can say 'Oops'. We have no reason to take her with us, anyways. We can't just kidnap Lucy from everything she knows just because she's a friend of yours."

"That's not just it!" Natsu argued. "We can't leave her here with…"

Gildarts eyes narrowed at the boy who suddenly trailed off of his sentence. Natsu gritted his teeth and stared down at the ground.

"What more is there, kid?" Gildarts questioned him. Natsu shook his head furiously and kept his mouth shut. "Is there something going on with the princess? If there is, you should tell me."

"I…I don't know if I should."

"Natsu," Gildarts said firmly, practically demanding Natsu to look at him with that single word. Sure enough, Natsu did. "Is the princess in danger of something? You can't keep these kinds of things secret or else someone might get seriously hurt or worse. You can trust me. Just tell me."

It has been said before that Natsu didn't just trust someone at the drop of a hat. As of late, it's been harder than it's ever been before. His circle of trust was more like a triangle with Lucy being at the top with himself and Gildarts making up the other points. Erza had been slowly making her way in before she became a recluse, but, if Gildarts' plan went as he hoped it would, they'd be spending more time together than before.

Besides, Lucy needed help whether she wanted it or not and no one intimidated the king more than Gildarts.

With his mind made up, Natsu opened his mouth to reply to his mentor.

Lucy could be upset with him later.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

King Judas sighed as he leaned back in his large, leather chair, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. Letters have been coming nonstop from Pergrande from that Duchess and he hasn't been able to reply to one fast enough with another coming immediately afterwards. Alavia was very intent on this union between Lucy and her son happening, but Judas was still on the fence about the whole thing. Pergrande was an exceptionally rich country and a union between the two kingdoms would surely lead to unimaginable prosperity.

But, for some odd reason, Judas just could not say yes.

Something about giving his only daughter away to someone else just didn't sit well with him. But, that's what she was for, right? To be used to help him prosper. She surely was going to marry someday. She was a very pretty girl who would someday grow into a beautiful, well-mannered lady that would have men pounding at her door at the chance of having her all to themselves. Why not narrow her choices down and confirm the marriage? It'd save them both a lot of trouble.

Sighing again, Judas turned back to the papers. He wrote off another excuse for not accepting the union yet, dropped it into an envelope, and sealed it with his signature stamp with the kingdom's crest on it.

He put it off to the side to have one of his messengers take it later on before returning to the mountain of papers on his desk.

As he did so, he heard the distinct sound of footsteps pounding along the hallway, heading straight towards his office.

"Stop, sir!" He heard a guard command at the oncoming assailant. "You can't go-HEY!"

The doors to the king's office threw open without nearly enough force to knock them off of their hinges. Judas sat stoically in his seat, meeting the eyes of a very heated auburn-haired man that was occupying his work space.

"I-I am very sorry, your Majesty." The guard he had heard a second ago stuttered. "I attempted to stop him, but he-"

"I'll allow it." Judas said off-handedly. He waved the guard off with a flick of his wrist. "Leave us."

The guard gulped. He eyed Gildarts once more before turning back and closing the doors behind as best he could.

"To what do I owe this unexpected visit, Gild-" Judas broke off as he was grabbed roughly by the lapels of his suit and pulled out of his chair. He was startled by the rush of warm air on his face and found himself nose to nose with the other man who was breathing quite heavily.

"I know you were a heartless bastard, but I never realized until now to what extent." Gildarts spoke in low, threatening tones. His eyes burned into the king's, daring him to look away.

"W-what are you talking about?" Judas managed to choke out.

"You disgust me!" Gildarts snarled. "Your own fucking daughter?! She's the sweetest little girl I've ever met and yet you are able to look her in the face and lay your filthy hands on her?!"

Judas gasped, but more out of surprise than for air. "Who told you such lies?"

"They're not lies!" Gildarts gripped him tighter. "I should have realized before. The makeup. The nervousness. You've been abusing that little girl all this time, haven't you?!"

"She's my daughter! I can do whatever the hell I want with her!"

Gildarts eyes flared up and Judas had wished he hadn't said anything. "YOU SICK SON OF A BITCH!"

Judas suddenly found himself airborne before his back painfully hit the opposite wall and he fell face first onto the ground. He groaned and attempted to pick himself up. Before he could, however, a large boot stamped itself onto the square of his back, forcing him back down.

"Get off of me!" Judas shouted, struggling under the weight. "I could have you hanged for this, you suicidal bastard!"

"You wouldn't do that. I'm too valuable, remember?" Gildarts mocked bitterly. "If anyone deserves to die, it should be you for torturing children for your own selfish gain."

"What's it to you, anyway?" Judas sneered, smirking to himself. "Have you got a thing for little kids, Gildarts? I wouldn't have pegged you for a-"

Gildarts stomped on the kings head. Judas howled with pain as his nose met with the floorboards, a distinct cracking noise filling the air. "You shut your goddamned mouth! We're nothing but pawns to you, aren't we?! Just players in your sadistic game, huh?! Well, that's all about to change."

Gildarts felt Judas tense under his foot, his back going rod straight.

Judas turned his face enough to look up at the other man. "What do you mean by that? What do you plan to do?"

Gildarts grinned sadistically, an expression never before seen on his face. "Nothing much. Just thinking of attempting a little disappearing act with the boy. Who knows? Maybe I'll take the princess along with me."

Judas gritted his teeth and began flailing uselessly. "You wouldn't dare! I'll kill you before you could even attempt it!"

"Who's going to stop me?" Gildarts mocked. "You? Or how about your army that you find so expendable. There's a reason you kept people like me around, Judas. What would your kingdom think if they learned that you've been harboring mages inside of your own walls? I don't suppose they'd take something like that lightly."

"Are you insane?! If I am revealed then so are you! People fear the unknown. They'll fear you and the rest of your kind. They'll hunt all of you down again and make sure to see to your existence permanently this time!"

"That's just the thing, your Highness." Gildarts lifted his foot, much to the king's relief. Gildarts walked over to crouch down in the king's line of sight. His face was impassive, but his fists remained balled and ready in case the king decided to make a move. "We're much smarter and much stronger than we were back then. If theses mortals decided to come after us again, we will be ready. If you looked around you more, you'd see that there's more of us that you could even imagine. Your ancestor was an idiot for believing that we'd simply fall off the face of the earth just like that. And now…you're going to pay for his transgressions."

"W…what do you mean?" Judas replied, reaching up to wipe off the blood that fell from his nose.

"You'll see." Gildarts stood back up, glaring at the king as he did so, but Judas did not dare get up. "So, we've had a good chat here today. If I didn't make it clear earlier, I'm going away and I'm taking the kid with me. Unless you want a repeat of this encounter, I suggest you look the other way. Or else, I'll have to break more than just your nose."

Judas followed Gildarts with his eyes as he made his way out of the room, strutting with confidence that made the king's blood boil. Once he was sure Gildarts was gone, Judas held himself up on all fours, taking deep breaths before he managed to bring himself fully on two feet. He looked towards the destruction of his normally immaculate office and sneered. Papers were strewn about here and there. There was a considerable dent in the wall where he was thrown and, somehow, an entire bookshelf was knocked down.

He shook his head.

What a mess.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Natsu sat out in the courtyard where Gildarts had told him to wait. He twiddled his thumbs and kicked at the ground as he waited.

His patience was rewarded with the image of a less livid Gildarts heading his way.

"Gildarts, what-"

"There's no time, Natsu." Gildarts interjected him before he could get a single sentence out. "We have to leave. Tonight. Wait here while I go get Erza."

"Tonight?" Natsu questioned with wide eyes. "But…I…"

Gildarts eyes softened. He kneeled down and ruffled the boy's hair as he used to do.

"I know you're going to miss her, kid. I'm sure she'll miss you, too." Natsu ducked his head, blushing slightly. Gildarts smiled with amusement. "I suggest you go say your goodbyes to her while you can. And, please, be more discreet this time."

Natsu nodded then darted off to do just that.

* * *

 **Yay! Judas got his ass handed to him! Who else was waiting for that to happen?**

 ***raises hand***

 **And so, they are leaving. No, they are not taking Lucy with them as some of you may have hoped, but for good reason. Lucy would be far too conspicuous as they travel and they'd never get a moment of peace if she was with them. Plus, plot reasons!**

 **I got this all figured out (sorta…)**

 **Next chapter, Natsu and Lucy say their goodbyes.**

 **Bring on the tissues!**

 **I do not own the anime or manga Fairy Tail. Mashima does.**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses!**


	17. Goodbye

**Wow, I have not updated in a while. I apologize, but I've been pretty busy with moving and stuff. I have a life outside of writing! (No, I don't)**

 **Anyways, here is chapter 17 of My Guiding Flame.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(Or don't. It's whatever….)**

* * *

 **Chapter 17:**

 **When you walk away**

 **You don't hear me say**

" **Please, oh baby, don't go."**

 **Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight**

 **It's hard to let it go**

" **Simple and Clean"- Utada**

 **(For my** **Kingdom Hearts** **fans)**

There was an uproar in the castle and Lucy, once again, was not informed of what was going on in the least bit. Guards headed towards her father's study that was down the hall from where she was having her piano lesson. She had heard a bit of a ruckus coming from there, but figured her father was in the midst of throwing a hissy fit over not getting what he wanted from someone. People would be surprised at how much that actually happened.

Her instructor dismissed her early and bolted out the door when he heard the King's furious shouts. If anyone had the chance to escape Judas' wrath, they'd best do it when they could.

Lucy, however, was used to her father's temper and was more curious as to what brought this on than frightened.

The exited the piano room and wandered out into the hallway where guards and various servants shuffled about in a rush to appease the king's wishes. They hardly paid any mind to her as she headed down the hall to the infamous office.

The doors were nearly off their hinges and the room was in an absolute mess. Her father stood in the middle of it with a bloodied handkerchief covering his mouth and nose, muffling the obscenities he was throwing at no one in particular. Lucy couldn't remember him looking so disheveled and haggard.

"F-father?" She stuttered out hesitantly. The king whipped his head around at the sound of her voice. Lucy jumped slightly as his hardened eyes landed on her, keeping a foot in the doorway in case she had to make a hasty escape. "Are you alright? You're bleeding."

King Judas stared at his daughter for a long moment as if he didn't recognize who she was. Lucy shifted uncomfortably. Judas shook his head deftly. "Yes, I am fine. What are you doing here, Lucy? Don't you have a piano lesson at this hour?"

"Yes, but my instructor called off my lesson for the day." She chose to omit the fact that he ran off because off her father. "What happened in here, father? Your office is a wreck."

"Yes, I am very well aware of that fact." He hissed at her. "Do not concern yourself with any of this. Why don't you go catch up on your reading?"

"I've read all of the books, father."

"What? There's no possible way that you've read every single book in the castle."

"But, I have! I would not lie to you, father. There is nothing new left for me to read anymore."

Judas growled in frustration. He stomped off to his desk and rummaged around for a bit before pulling out a large, burlap sack that jangled with each movement. He walked back over to the princess and dropped it in her hands.

"Have that nanny of yours take you to the town bookstore and buy some new ones."

Lucy blinked slowly. She looked back down at the sack in her hands. It was pretty heavy, indicating a large some of jewels inside.

She looked back up at her father who was currently in the process of organizing the fallen papers.

"You…you're letting me out?" She questioned quietly, disbelieving that he was actually giving her the opportunity to leave the castle walls. She has never went beyond the courtyard and yet he was giving her the option to go into town with no supervision other than Aquarius. Did he really trust her that much?

"Just go!" He snapped at her without turning around. "I don't want to look at you for the rest of the day. But, you'd better be back before the sun goes down or else I'll have to send the guards after you and, trust me, you don't want that."

Lucy nodded hastily, mentally slapping herself for foolishly believing even for a moment that her father actually cared for her. All he wanted was to get her out of his hair. Well, if that was what he wanted than she was more than happy to oblige.

She rushed out of the room before he could change his mind to go in search of her nanny.

However, as she did so, she heard footsteps coming her way that was much to light and quick to be any of the heavily armored guards or the aged servants. It was a child's footsteps and they were coming at her fast.

She knew without seeing exactly who it was and a big grin appeared on her face. She found it odd that Natsu was roaming about the castle as free as a bird, but figured that her father was in a gracious mood and was making a few bad decision because of it, but she was happy nonetheless.

Sure enough, the pink-haired fire mage came around the corner and stopped momentarily before sniffing the air.

"Natsu!" Lucy called out to him enthusiastically, beginning to wander over to him. When he looked over at her, she stopped.

His face was not happy. Not at all. He looked a bit downhearted, agitated, and anxious over something. He had his eyebrows knitted together as he looked over her. She briefly wondered what he was thinking of as he did so. She assumed that he had been looking for her. Why else would he be here? But, it apparently wasn't going to a good consultation judging by his expression.

"Lucy," Natsu began once they were close enough to hear each other if they had to whisper. "I need to tell you something, but it has to be fast."

Lucy felt uneasy about this, but nodded.

"I….Lucy, I need to…" Natsu closed and reopened his mouth several times, searching for the right words to say and coming up with none. All he had to say was that he was leaving, but it was hard to do so after seeing her look at him with such a hopeful and excited expression earlier. This was going to be anything but easy. "Lucy…I'm leaving."

"Leaving?" The princess questioned. "Where are you going?"

"I don't know, Luce. But, we gotta go. Gildarts is taking me and Erza away from here so the king won't be able to turn me into some kinda monster. Luce, we'd take you with us if we could, but-"

"No." Lucy shook her hair. "You have to go. I understand, Natsu. I may not like it, but I do understand. I don't want you to stay here either and I can't left my selfishness get in the way of you gaining your freedom."

Natsu gazed at her with wide eyes. He was, once again, in awe over her selflessness. He could already see the tears collecting in her eyes, but she smiled softly at him despite them.

"Lucy," He said quietly. He reached over to grab one of her hands in his. "don't think of this as a goodbye. We'll see each other again, okay?"

Lucy chuckled lightly. "Yes, of course. There's still so much we have to see and do together, you know." With the promise made, Lucy reached down into the collar of her dress to pull out her necklace. She reached up to unclasp it from her neck, turned over Natsu's hand so his palm was facing up and laid the piece of jewelry in it before folding his fingers over it. "Take this."

"Lucy, I can't take this!" The boy exclaimed. "It was your moms!"

"You're not taking it. You're only borrowing it from me for the time being and, the next time we see each other, you can give it back to me. Now, this is a very important gift so you'd better take very good care of it, alright?"

Natsu looked at her then down at the necklace in his hand. It shimmered against the ray of light shining from the windows. "Are you sure?"

Lucy nodded in reply.

Natsu was unsure, but placed the necklace in the front pocket of his pants anyway.

The two stood silently for a long minute, shuffling their feet awkwardly and rubbing their necks as they waited for the other to say something. Neither wanted to leave the other at the moment, but there wasn't much left to say and yet there was. Natsu was not very good with words in the first place, but he had plenty going on in his head. Lucy was the opposite. So many words sat on her tongue and yet her brain seemed to be failing her to make her able to move her mouth. It was funny that now, when she had the chance to speak freely without the fear of being reprimanded, anything she could've said right now would only seem hollow and meaningless.

Thankfully, she did not need words to express that she was going to miss the pink-haired, energetic, fun, and goofy fire mage that she has called friend for the last three or so years. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around Natsu's neck and hugged him close to herself, burying her face in his shoulder to hide the fact that her tears were now flowing at a fast rate and they didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.

Hiding her face wasn't about to fool Natsu though. He reciprocated her embrace and buried his nose in her hair.

"Don't cry, Luce." He said quietly to her, rubbing a hand over her back. "We'll see each other again. There's no reason to be sad."

"I'm going to miss you so much, Natsu." Lucy sniffled.

Natsu sighed and held her closer. "I know, Luce. Me too."

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Gildarts waited out in the forest in front of the gates of the castle. Erza sat behind him beneath a large tree, keeping quiet as she thought to herself. It wasn't hard to convince her to leave. There wasn't much left for her here besides her father's memory, but that seemed to make her even more anxious to get away. All she asked for was to be able to bring her wooden sword. It wasn't useful for much, but she claimed that it held some sentimental value. Gildarts wouldn't have argued even if it didn't.

She still spoke mechanically and with a blank look in her eyes, but at least she was more receptive.

Gildarts knew how difficult it was to lose a parent, but Erza's withdrawnness was beginning to concern him.

He didn't have to wait long for Natsu to come along. The boy had his head down as he walked up and fiddled with something in his hand.

"Hey, kid." Gildarts spoke to him gently. "Did you talk to Lucy?"

Natsu nodded. "Yeah, I talked to her. We said our goodbyes and then I left."

Gildarts raised his eyebrows. "That's it?"

"That's it." Natsu shrugged. "Oh! But, she did give me this to give to you."

Natsu fished in his pocket and pulled out a burlap sack filled with jewels. He tossed it at Gildarts who proceeded to weigh it in his hands.

He whistled lowly. "Wow, that's a lot. Does the king know that Lucy gave this to you?"

"Does it matter?"

"No, not really."

"She also told me to make sure Erza gets some new dresses. She said she knows how much Erza likes new clothes."

Gildarts smiled softly, thankful for the princess' kindness. At least Erza now had something to look forward once they reach the next town in their journeys. Behind him, Erza lifted her head at the sound of her name and her eyes sparkled with tears once she heard that Lucy actually thought of her and paid attention to what she liked. She always dressed in long skirts to preserve her modesty and flimsy armor because that's what she thought a soldier should wear, but voiced to Lucy on more than one occasion how envious she was over Lucy's nice, expensive dresses. She was sad to know that she might never see her friend again, but was thankful for the time that they had shared in the years since she came here with her father.

There were no children her age around to play with and practically nothing to entertain herself with when her father wasn't with her or when she wasn't training. Then, a little girl with blonde pigtails came around when she was sitting out by herself as she waited for her father to finish with his own training session. They sat beside each other and hardly spoke, but Erza was so grateful that she had even bothered to keep her company.

"Well, kids," Gildarts announced as he readjusted his pack on his shoulder. "I think it's about time to head out before things get too emotional for me. Got everything you need?"

Both of the children nodded. Natsu absentmindedly gripped the necklace in his hand a bit tighter.

"Good. Let's get this show on the road, then."

Gildarts and Erza set off as soon as the older man announced their departure, but Natsu stayed behind for an extra second to spare the castle one last lingering glance. He sent Lucy a mental goodbye, knowing fully well that she wouldn't be able to tell, then jogged to catch up with his fellow roadies without another glance backwards.

It was now time to look forward to the future instead of focusing on his imprisonment and degradation by the tyrant the people called king. However, he'd never forget nor let go of the friendship he created with the lonely, sad princess. As likely as it may seem, he knew that he'd see her again and held on to that hope.

* * *

 **The end!**

 **That's it. That's all there is to it. Nothing more to see here, folks. The fat lady has sung. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.**

 **(Please, stay. I still have A LOT of writing to do.)**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses!**

 **I do not own Fairy Tail, by the way.**


	18. Carry On

**If you haven't have guessed by now, I was totally kidding when I said the last chapter was the end. I could say that I was not intentionally trying to freak people out, but then I'd be lying ;)**

 **What can I say? I like screwing with people.**

 **This is a bit of a filler chapter before we get down to the nitty gritty.**

 **I just need to introduce a few key points before we get on with it.**

 **Anyways, here is chapter 18 of My Guiding Flame.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 18**

* * *

 **If you're lost and alone**

 **Or you're sinking like a stone**

 **Carry on**

 **May your past be the sound**

 **Of your feet upon the ground**

 **Carry on**

" **Carry On" -FUN**

* * *

 **3 Weeks Later**

"I'm huuuuungry!" A whiny voice called out from amidst the green forest.

Two more voices groaned.

"Natsu, we just ate fifteen minutes ago." Reasoned a red-headed girl with a scowl on her face.

"Yeah, but it was nothing but tiny fish. Can't we find a boar or even a rabbit to eat or something?"

"Sorry, Natsu." The older man leading the group spoke up. He smiled patiently down at the boy. "Beggars can't be choosers."

Natsu groaned pathetically, but, thankfully, dropped the subject.

It felt as if they had been on the road for years rather than just a few weeks. Natsu wasn't exactly lazy, but he couldn't ever remember walking such a long distance. He probably would have lost his mind seeing nothing but green trees, bushes, rocks, and gravel if it hadn't been for his regular training sessions with Gildarts. There was no real reason for them other than to relieve some stress and tension. Erza had been invited to join in a few times, but she sought no interest in joining their little scrimmages despite the gleam in her eye every time she watched them fight.

In fact, she had rarely talked throughout their entire journey together. She spoke when spoken to and only piped up to put her own two cents in when Natsu began to get on her and Gildarts' nerves with his constant babble.

Natsu knew it was hard losing a parent, but he couldn't understand why Erza had become so withdrawn and serious. Granted, she wasn't very much fun to begin with, but at least she talked a lot more. He never inquired her about her father. He didn't have a death wish. But, at least it was something they had in common.

Missing their fathers, that is.

Natsu still refuted against the idea that his father might be dead. It simply wasn't a possibility in his mind.

"Say, Gildarts…" Erza began quietly.

Gildarts wanted to smile at the sound of her voice, but kept himself in check. "Yes, Erza?"

"How much longer until we reach our destination?"

"Not much longer. About a day and a half at the most."

"Finally!" Natsu exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. "It's been ages! Is there good food there?!"

"Yes, Natsu." Gildarts chuckled. "You can eat till your heart's content as soon as we get there."

Natsu began to drool.

"What exactly is 'there', Gildarts?" Erza asked.

Gildarts looked back at her and winked. "I _could_ tell you, but that would ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?"

Erza threw up her eyebrows. Why was he being so mysterious about it? "Could you at least tell us a little something about it?"

Gildarts pursed his lips as he thought it over then shrugged. "Let's just say that it's a very special place where you're free to be yourself and no one can take that away from you."

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

The next day, Gildarts had awoken the children earlier than usual, much too excited to wait for them to wake up on their own. Both Erza and Natsu rubbed at their eyes tiredly and yawned as Gildarts practically bounced with anticipation in front of them.

Eventually, the forest around them began to thin out until they stepped out into the busy streets of a town. People passed by them with easy smiles on their faces as they went about their day, even a few paused to wave at the group before carrying on.

"Morning', Gildarts." A man greeted Gildarts. "Haven't seen you around here lately. But, that's not exactly new, huh?"

Gildarts laughed with the man and waved him off.

Natsu and Erza looked at each other in confusion before turning their gazes to the older man.

"Gildarts, where are we?" Erza inquired.

"Kids, this is Magnolia." He announced, waving his arm. "You're new home."

Natsu gaped. "Our new home? That's awesome! We get to live here?!"

"You got that right, kiddo. But, that's not all I've got to show you."

Gildarts led the children across the town, the two of them drinking in the sights and taking in the smells from local bakeries. Erza in particular resisted the temptation to stop at one that had cakes on display in the window. It all seemed too good to be true. The town was lively and bustling. Everyone seemed so happy and at ease.

Straight down the street, Natsu could make out the shape of a rather big building standing proudly in the middle of the city. The red, green, and gold accents of it made it shine brighter in the sun. The shiny, golden emblems displayed on the building in particular had Natsu squinting to try and make out their shapes. Then, in bold, purple letters Natsu could make out the words:

 _Fairy Tail._

Even from outside, he could still hear the loud, rambunctious voices of whoever was inside and plenty of rustling around as well as banging. His fists clenched with anticipation. Whatever was behind those doors, he knew he was in for yet another huge adventure.

"Alright, kids," Gildarts announced as he stood in front of the building once they reached its front doors. "we've come to the end of our journey. Welcome to Fairy Tail!"

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Three weeks.

That's how long the little runt had been keeping quiet and to herself. Normally, the irritable nanny would have been overjoyed because the little brat wasn't constantly whining and clinging on her.

In this instance, however, Lucy's silence only seemed to anger Aquarius further. She was not a patient woman, not in the least bit, but she still cared from the little princess in her own way and didn't wish to see her in such a foul mood like this.

Lucy was currently getting dressed for bed with the help of her pink-haired assistant, Virgo, while Aquarius prepared her bed. Lucy couldn't even look at the woman above her neck without wanting to burst into tears. Something about the coloration simply had her feeling down without any warning at all.

Lucy didn't say anything, though. She liked Virgo despite her odd requests for punishment even when she didn't do anything wrong. It could be as simple as putting Lucy's dress on a little too tight. However, she was loyal and kind to Lucy which was something she was beginning to see less and less of.

Ever since Natsu's departure, her father had been ignoring her. She didn't mind, however. It was better than beating her for no apparent reason. He kept himself locked in his office most days. He would occasionally come down for breakfast or dinner, but they wouldn't speak all throughout the meal and then he'd be gone.

"Is something wrong, princess?" Virgo questioned the girl as she pulled the nightgown over her head.

Lucy shook her hair out. "No, Virgo. I'm fine. Thank you for asking, though."

"Are you certain, princess? Is you dress too loose or too tight on you? Do I require punishment?"

"Uh, no, Virgo. Everything's fine. You may go."

"As you wish, princess." Virgo stood and bowed before taking her leave.

Lucy sighed and began pull out the necklace from beneath her collar to look at it once before heading over to her bed before realizing that it was no longer there anymore. She sighed and jumped into her bed then sat back as Aquarius folded the sheets around her and fluffed her pillow.

"You're not foolin' anyone, y'know." Aquarius said with no real conviction.

Lucy blinked up at her. "Excuse me?"

"Don't act stupid. You've been quiet ever since your little dragon friend left and it's beginning to get on my nerves."

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Quit apologizing! Grow a god damn backbone, would you?!" Lucy ducked beneath the covers to attempt to escape from the woman's glare. Aquarius took a deep breath to calm herself down before sitting on the edge of Lucy's bed. She turned her head to the side to stare into the fireplace on the other side of the room. "You know, you're mother may have been a bit soft-spoken like you, but she never took crap from anybody…Not even me."

Lucy sat up more, her attention grabbed by her nanny's words. "Really? Even my father?"

Aquarius laughed bitterly. "She didn't have to worry about getting any crap from him. She had him wrapped around her finger from day one."

Lucy racked her brain as she tried to conjure up images of her father acting any different from the power hungry sociopath she has come to know, but came up with nothing. Then, she realized something. "Wait, but I thought you said you didn't start to work here until after I was born."

"Your mother and I were…good friends way before you were born and even before she met Judas. She was just a kid and I became indebted to her soon after we met. I used to hate her for making me owe her something, but she soon changed my attitude towards her just by being…well, her. We did so many things together throughout the years and she never once let her down and I, in return, never wanted to disappoint her. I got to watch her grow up into a strong, sophisticated woman…That is, until she met your father." Lucy watched as Aquarius' eyes turned dark and a shadow was casted over her features. "That damned man. He didn't like me in Layla's life, he said that I was putting unwanted thoughts into her head. But, she managed to convince him to leave me be, but, in turn, I had to leave. Layla…Layla didn't need me anymore, I guess. She found a new, rich husband that gave her everything she ever wanted and more. Soon enough, she became pregnant with you and her perfect dreams had become a reality." She chuckled dryly. "I guess she just didn't bank on getting sick. So, she passed away and then there you were. Without a mother or a caring enough father, so that's when I had to step back in to watch over you. Luckily, the king saw that I was the only one capable enough to take care of you so he let me come back into the castle as long as I kept Layla a secret from you and the rest of the world."

"But, why?" Lucy jumped, afraid Aquarius might end her story and call it a night. "Why is she a secret? Why must she be kept from me?"

Aquarius stared down at the little girl. Then, a sly smirk appeared on her face. "Well, I could tell you. But, I believe that it would be much more fun for you to find out for yourself."

Lucy's eyebrows furrowed together as she began to grow frustrated. "What do you mean? How can I do that?"

"Remember that letter you found in the film canister?"

Lucy nodded. "Yes, but it all seemed like nonsensical gibberish to me."

Aquarius' smile grew even wider. She stood up from the bed and began towards the door. "You're a smart girl, Lucy." She opened the door and paused in the doorway to look back at the confused girl. "You'll figure it out."

And, with that said, Aquarius closed the door.

Lucy was left both metaphorically and literally in the dark.

* * *

 **Yay! They're home! Took me long enough!**

 **So, the gang has arrived at Fairy Tail**

 **Lucy gets a little more insight about her mother**

 **And what's up with that freaking letter?!**

 ***shrugs* I dunno. I guess you'll have to wait and find out!**

 **Also, I'm unsure whether or not to put in a chapter where the Fairy Tail gang is introduced. I'm sure most of you know who is who, but it would be nice to see how Natsu and Erza get along with everybody, wouldn't it?**

 **Tell me what you think in the reviews, please!**

 **Until next time, my lovelies!**

 **Kisses!**

 **(I do not own a tiny bit of Fairy Tail, btw)**


	19. Serendipity

**I'm so sorry I haven't been able to update a lot lately. I say writing is my passion and yet I can't force myself to write when I'm not feeling particularly inspired. I WILL finish this story, but I'm afraid it's going to be a bit of a slow burn because of all that I have planned for it and the amount of time it will take for me to actually write each chapter.**

 **But, I digress.**

 **Anyways, you're not here to hear me rant so let's just get on with it.**

 **Here is chapter 19 of My Guiding Flame! Last chapter before time skip, btw!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(Fairy Tail is not mine.)**

* * *

 **Chapter 19**

* * *

 **I'm coming home**

 **I'm coming home**

 **Tell the world that I'm coming home**

 **Let the rain wash away**

 **All the pain of yesterday**

 **I know my kingdom awaits**

 **And they've forgiven my mistakes**

 **I'm coming home**

 **I'm coming home**

 **Tell the world that I'm coming home**

" **Coming Home" –Skylar Grey**

* * *

"Fairy Tail?" Erza echoed Gildarts' word, her eyes scanning the inside of the building with clear distaste.

It didn't look like much. In fact, it looked like the bars her father frequented on lazy days. The smell of booze was strong in the air, causing Erza to scrunch up her nose. Bar stools were thrown carelessly on the scratched up, wooden floorboards as well as discarded mugs. Men, women, and children alike loitered around at the tables, ordering about the barmaids behind the counters on either side of the room.

Erza looked up at Gildarts. "You made us travel for weeks to show us some decrepit bar? You might as well have left us at the castle."

Surprisingly, Gildarts frowned down at her. "Don't be so quick to judge, Erza. Appearances are deceiving."

Erza doubted this place could be anything more than what she was seeing, but dropped the subject since her opinion was apparently displeasing her friend.

"Well, I like it here!" Natsu enthused, his bright eyes taking in everything around him. People were laughing, drinking and, more importantly, fighting! Natsu felt like he was in his element.

Gildarts grinned at the boy. "I'm glad you think so. Listen, I've got to go talk to someone real quick. Would you two be alright with waiting here for a few minutes?"

Both children shrugged as a reply.

"Good. Feel free to mingle while you wait. The folks around here will be the friendliest you've ever met."

"Cool! I'm gonna go talk to those guys!" Natsu exclaimed, pointing towards two men near the back of the room, drinking large mugs and smoking cigars. One had slicked back, dark blue hair and a funny moustache while the other had strange, brown, swirly hair that stretched out beyond his forehead.

Gildarts didn't believe those two would be the greatest of people for Natsu to talk with, but the boy was gone before he could even open his mouth to protest. He looked back down at Erza who remained rooted to the spot. He shrugged, believing that if she wanted to talk to someone she would. He didn't have to hold her hand and force her to. He turned on his heel, ready to walk off, but he felt the uncomfortable feeling of someone watching him. Turning back, he found nothing out of the usual expect for a small, brown-haired girl quickly ducking behind a table. She was too fast for him to be able to get a good look at her. Shrugging it off, he went on his way.

Erza felt the presence of both of her companions leave her and she stood awkwardly in front of the entrance to the building, her arms crossed over her armored chest and an ever-so-present frown on her face. Her stance signaled that she was not one to be approached at the very moment. Everyone else seemed to get the memo, save for one girl who hopped out of her seat, leaving behind two worried looking children.

"Hey, you!" The girl shouted. Her ivory ponytail swung behind her as she sauntered up to Erza, a malicious grin on her face and ill intent shining in her blue eyes. Her hands rested on her hips in a superior fashion. "What are you doing standing at the door like an idiot? Don't you know how to be polite and say hello to people?"

Erza could tell that the other girl was trying to provoke her. For what reason, she didn't know.

Instead of falling for it, Erza merely replied, "I am waiting for a friend. I have no interest in making friends right now."

"Well, that's a little rude. You came into _our_ guild hall, after all. The least you could do is give a little greeting. What? Were you raised in a barn or something?"

"Guild hall?" Erza's eyes light up. This was a term that was not unfamiliar to her, but it wasn't exactly a common topic. She finally turned her head towards the girl. "What do you mean by that?"

The girl giggled. "Wow, you really are stupid."

"Mira," the little girl that was sitting beside the older one piped up. "be nice. She's not bothering anyone."

"Lisanna, I think it's best not to get involved." The meek boy with the scar over his eye replied.

"But, she does this every time, Elfman."

"You came in with Gildarts, didn't you?" The girl, whose name Erza learned was Mira, continued on as if the others didn't speak. "You must know a little something if you've been with him."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Erza retorted. "Gildarts had never mentioned where we were going in all the time we were with him. You said guild, correct?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Guilds do not exist. They haven't since…"

At this, Mira burst out laughing. She leaned over to clutch her stomach as tears of mirth ran down her face.

Erza gritted her teeth, not appreciative of being made fun of.

"Oh, man!" Mira chuckled once she had caught her breath. "I thought you were stupid before, now I realize that you're just plain clueless. Aw, poor thing."

Erza had had enough. She resisted the urge to pull out her wooden sword. Instead, she walked up to the ivory-haired girl until they were toe to toe and spoke in a low, frightening tone. "I do not know who you are or what you want, but I do not appreciate being the butt of your joke. I don't know what made you think that you could walk up to me and laugh right in my face, but I am not going to put up with it. So, either leave me alone or face the consequences for provoking me."

Erza expected the girl to back down. To apologize right away and scurry off to join what Erza assumed to be her siblings. But, perhaps that was just wishful thinking.

Mira's sadistic smile grew at Erza's words. Her hands balled into tight fists at her waist.

Leaning in, Mira whispered, "Bring it on."

 ***Meanwhile***

Macao and Wakaba were enjoying a couple pints of beer on a surprisingly quiet day. None of those weird children that kept showing up were starting anything and only a few fights broke out today, but that was to be expected at Fairy Tail.

The two men clinked their mugs together and chugged back their drinks.

"Hey! Watcha guys doin'?!"

They both spat out their drinks, their eyes landing on the strange boy that had suddenly popped up between them completely out of the blue.

"What the hell?!" Macao coughed as he wiped his mouth. "Whose kid is this?"

"I'm Natsu!" He replied with an easy smile. "Who are you guys?"

Pink hair. Sharp teeth. A scarf made out of what looked like lizard scales.

Wakaba blinked. "Man, I've got to stop drinking so much." He took another sip out of his mug.

"Oh, great. Not another one." Macao hung his head. "Where'd he even come from?"

"I was raised in a forest, but these creeps took me and then I had to live in a castle. It kinda sucked."

"A castle, huh?" Wakaba scratched his head. "Wait a minute. I've heard about you. You're that dragon boy Gildarts' been training for the king, right?"

Natsu nodded.

"Geez, I didn't think he'd ever get you out of there." Macao added in. "He's been talkin' about it pretty much since he started. You've become pretty popular around here, kid."

"I have?"

"Don't give that brat a big head, okay? He's not that important." A new voice piped up.

Natsu looked up to meet a pair of cold eyes set into a nearly emotionless face save for a disapproving frown. The person he was staring up at had to be about in his teens, but the look on his face claimed he was more mature personality wise. His blonde hair was stuck in in several directions much like Natsu's expect it was a bit shorter. Spiky headphones were placed over his ears, but Natsu couldn't tell if they were on or not. They must not have been since he could hear their conversation from where he was sitting. His most notable feature, however, had to be the lightning shaped scar over his right eye.

"Yo, Laxus." Macao greeted him with a smile. "Back from that mission with the Lightning Gang, I see."

The boy named Laxus scoffed. "As if it were hard. We dealt with those robbers in no time flat. The only reason we were gone so long was because a few imperial guards caught wind of us so we had to keep a low profile until we got back to Fiore."

"Those guys are showing up more than ever, aren't they? They're making it really hard to go on missions lately. I wonder what set them off in the first place."

"I can think of one good reason." Laxus replied, his gaze landing back on the pink-haired boy in front of him.

"Hey, I'm Natsu!" He greeted the older boy as if nothing was wrong.

"Yeah. I know."

"You wanna fight me?!"

"Fight you?" Laxus cocked an eyebrow and flashed a lopsided smile. "I don't think you want to do that, kid. It's way too early for you to take me on."

Natsu growled. "You wanna bet?! I could whoop your butt faster than you could say 'Help'!"

"If you're so sure, then come at me, kid."

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

"Well, I'm certainly glad you were able to get them out in time, Gildarts." A short, white-haired man with a bushy moustache sat on top of a mahogany desk. He tucked the staff he held in his hand in between his folded up legs to take a long drag from his pipe. "I can't imagine what would have become of them if they had stayed."

"Thankfully, we'll never have to know." Gildarts smiled. "They really are great kids. They just need a friendly hand to show them that the world's not as bad as what they've been shown."

"Then, it's a good thing we have more than enough friendly hands to go around. What do you say we round the little brats up and make it official?"

"I couldn't agree more, Master. I'll go get them."

Gildarts didn't know what he expected when he would out of the office door. But, what he saw certainly wasn't what he guessed he would.

While his jaw dropped to the floor, the old man beside him chuckled and waved his staff around.

"It looks like they're going to fit in around here more than we thought."

Erza was currently in a worryingly violent hand-to-hand fight with the guild's infamous hell raiser Mirajane. Both girls scratched, bit, clawed, and pulled at each other's hair with all of their might while Mira's sibling stood on the sidelines with their heads in their hands.

And Natsu, poor boy, was currently held in a headlock by Laxus who looked bored enough to fall asleep on the spot. Natsu didn't look like he minded, however. He struggled with everything he had save for setting the older boy on fire as he was told by Gildarts not to do.

"Uh, kids? Maybe you should-"

"Let them play, Gildarts." Master chided him gently. "This just might be what they need after all that they've been through. We could always give them their marks later."

* * *

 **Betcha thought Gray was going to be in the guild.**

 **Nope.**

 **So, is Fairy Tail a guild of mages or not?**

 ***shrugs***

 **Guess you'll have to find out next time on My Guiding Flame!**

 **I believe I also forgot to include the fact that Natsu does already have the scarf Igneel have him before he left. I was going to write a chapter where Natsu goes back to the forest where he was taken and finds it there, but I couldn't be bothered.**

 **Just pretend like it's been there the whole time and no one gets hurt!**

 **Don't you judge me. Writing is hard.**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses!**


	20. Secrets

**Here we are!**

 **Finally!**

 **After twenty chapters of angst and depression, we've finally come to the time skip in which our young heroes turn into the lovely young adults that we fell in love with in the original story.**

 **I'm so ready to get on with this.**

 **Here is Chapter 20 of My Guiding Flame!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 20**

* * *

 **Got a secret**

 **Can you keep it?**

 **Swear this one you'll save**

 **Better lock it in your pocket**

 **Taking this one to the grave**

 **If I show you then I know you**

 **Won't tell what I said**

' **Cause two can keep a secret**

 **If one of them is dead**

" **Secret"- The Pierces**

* * *

 **5 Years Later**

It was almost frightening how quickly Lucy could lose herself in her writing when she set her mind to her work. Her eyes get a distant look in them and her mind was so far away in her imagination that nearly nothing could bring her back.

Aquarius watched as her ward hunched over her desk in her comfortable clothing with her long, blonde hair pulled back into a high ponytail. She was rarely allowed to look like this if she wasn't in the comfort of her own room. Lucy had grown to despise the regal gowns she was forced into along with the extravagant hairdos that had her holding up her head to keep her from tipping over and the heavy, jangling jewelry that proved no purpose other than to show off her kingdom's wealth. She lived for the days when she could get a break. Pick out a comfortable, breezy skirt and a tank top on warm days or simple sweatpants and a t-shirt if she was feeling particularly lazy.

Lucy's fingers worked furiously over the buttons of her typewriter than she received for her thirteenth birthday. She hadn't thought that she would ever use it until she eventually sat down and began writing her first story. It came out horribly, but she fell in love with the hobby and made it her favorite pastime when she wasn't preoccupied with other things.

The young princess was now approaching her seventeenth birthday and Aquarius was a bit creeped out by how much she looked and acted like Layla. She often teased Lucy about how her mother was so much more graceful, kinder, and more well-mannered, but none of it was true. They were pretty much the same person at this point. Aquarius was not the only one who saw this, either.

Aquarius pushed herself away from the doorway she was leaning on to walk over to the princess. Lucy didn't even flinch when her nanny's hand landed on her shoulder and shook her lightly.

"Hey, brat!" Aquarius shouted. "Pay attention!"

Again, Lucy took no notice of the older woman. She merely paused to reset the platen before continuing on.

Aquarius rolled her eyes. She could yell until she was blue in the face and Lucy still wouldn't have come back to earth.

Resorting to her go-to method, Aquarius walked over to the side of the desk and picked up the typewriter, Lucy's hands still going at the keys until they were no longer within her reach.

"Hey!" Lucy cried out indignantly. "I was working on something! I was on a roll."

"That's what you always say. You've really got to start paying attention to your surroundings. You're going to get yourself killed one of these days."

Lucy scowled and sat back in her seat. "What did you need?"

Aquarius' lips twisted and she grew solemn. She set the typewriter back down and placed her hands on her hips.

"Your father wishes to see you in his office. Now."

Lucy groaned. "What does he want now?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Just don't keep him waiting."

"Yeah, yeah."

Lucy sighed wearily and stood up from her desk. Aquarius let herself out after assisting Lucy into a dress and fixing up her hair enough so it wouldn't look like she just got out of bed.

Lucy stood in front of the mirror to gaze at herself. She had come far from the scrawny little girl she used to be. She was now a well filled out, beautiful young lady with much longer hair, and bigger…assets. Lucy knew she was a cute girl. She wasn't exactly vain, but she was fairly confident in her appearance.

Lucy trailed her fingers down the pink, silk gown that Virgo picked out for her. It complimented her figure nicely, but Lucy couldn't wait to get out of the damn thing.

She took a deep breath in, preparing for the emotionally draining meeting she was sure to have with her father.

As per usual, she was forced to stand outside of her father's office doors like an idiot while she waited for his approval to enter. She sighed and leaned against the wall as she waited.

She recalled the day these doors were opened for once and she was able to walk right in. Albeit, they were busted off of their hinges, but it was a nice change. Another nice change was the fact that she got to see her father broken and bloodied for the first time.

That day was especially hard to forget since that was the day King Judas Heartfilia stopped hitting his only daughter. The emotional abuse never stopped, but that she could deal with better than the beatings.

That was also the last day Judas looked Lucy in the eye.

"You may enter, Lucy." The king's voice called out from beyond the door.

Lucy rolled her eyes, but did as she was told. As always.

"Good afternoon, Father." Lucy greeter her father respectfully as she entered into the spacious room.

Judas was currently shifting through a stack of papers on his desk, not even looking up to acknowledge the girl in the room.

"Something has been brought to my attention as of late." Judas began without returning Lucy's greeting. "It has not escaped my noticed that you are getting older, Lucy."

"You don't say." Lucy mumbled sarcastically under her breath.

"You are at that age now where you should start thinking about what you are going to do with your life. By that I mean that it might be time to start looking into potential suitors whom you are willing to marry."

"Marry?!" Lucy cried out incredulously. "I'm only sixteen! I don't want to get married!"

"You will not be sixteen for long, Lucy. As you get older, the less desirable you'll be and the less offers you'll get so the time is neigh to find a suitable husband to settle down with."

Lucy fisted her hands in her skirt and bit down on her tongue to keep her from screaming out her frustrations.

"One suitor in particular has been insistent on meeting with you." Judas continued on. "He is a noble from Peregrande. I believe you have met his mother, Duchess Alavia. She frequents your birthday parties."

"Yes, but I do not wish to meet him. I don't wish to meet any suitors. I'm not getting married!"

"I don't believe I was giving you a choice, Lucy." Judas looked up at her for the first time since she came in. "Your opinion holds no value in this decision. You're lucky I am even giving you a variety of suitors to choose from."

Lucy's knuckled were turning white from clenching her dress so tightly. Tears were beginning to surface in her eyes. This couldn't be happening.

"T-that's not fair, Father!"

"Neither is life. We've all got to make sacrifices, Lucy. You are dismissed."

"What sacrifice are you making?!" Lucy burst out before she could stop herself. "You're able to receive financial gain from another kingdom and be rid of me within the same act. I hardly think either of those are sacrifices for you!"

"That is enough, Lucy!" Judas shouted out. Lucy backed away out of reflex, memories of her childhood resurfacing at the sound of her father's angry tone. Judas took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing. "I have said what I needed to. You can do what you will with the information I have given you, but I am not going to give you an out with this. You either decide on a suitor and confirm your engagement or I will decide for you and send you off with your new husband. You are dismissed, Lucy."

Lucy had so much to say. So many arguments to make, but none of them would have helped. Her father had made up her mind and there was no going back after that.

It didn't mean she liked it. Not at all.

Lucy didn't hesitate to rush out of the room and back to her own. She slammed the door closed behind her and turned the lock before she slid down and buried her face in her hands to sob.

What kind of father would give his daughter away to a practical stranger just like that? Lucy wondered what she did to cause her father to hate her so much. She could think of none besides the fact that she was here while her mother wasn't. Does he blame her for Layla's death? How could she be responsible? She never asked to be born. She never asked to be related to a tyrant who would throw away anything if it meant that he got to sustain his wealth and power. How different would he be if her mother were still here?

Lucy hadn't thought about her mother in a while. She kept her mind occupied enough that she was unable to think of most personal things. Even Natsu, the only friend she remembered having, has managed to slide to the back of her brain. Never forgotten, but rarely thought of. Only when she was feeling lonely, the pink shade of Natsu's hair flashed before her eyes and she wished she could go down into the dungeon and talk to her friend. She wondered if he still carried her necklace and thought of her every time he looked at it.

Speaking of forgetting, the note Lucy had found in the film canister so many years ago hadn't been out of the drawer in her nightstand in a very long time. She had given up attempting to decode it. She had even been tempted to rip it apart simply out of frustration. She was beginning to think that it really was nothing but gibberish and ultimately meaningless, but what Aquarius had said about her being able to figure it out stuck with her.

Lucy was a smart girl. All of her lessons throughout the years guaranteed that. Perhaps it was time to try it out again. At least just once more.

Lucy stood up from the floor and headed towards her nightstand. She pulled open the bottom drawer and picked up the folded up scrap of paper.

Unfolding it, she read over the lines for the thousandth time since she received the damn thing, feeling just as lost as before. She moved over to her desk, spread the paper out to the best of its ability and placed it underneath her lamp to analyze it further.

As a writer, the misspelled words and incorrect punctuation marks bothered her greatly. Whoever wrote it must have missed out on an English lesson or two.

Unless…

Stuck by a sudden feeling of comprehension, Lucy grabbed a clean sheet of paper and a pencil and lied it beside the note.

Looking back and forth between the papers, it came to Lucy's attention that the words were misspelled intentionally. She took the incorrect placement of each letter out of a word and wrote them out on the second paper. As she went on, the message was beginning to grow clearer and clearer. Concise words were staring back at her, screaming out their meaning and begging her understand them.

Lucy set down her pencil and sat back in her seat. She couldn't believe that it took her this long to figure it out. It was so mentally challenging yet so simple.

Lucy moved the second page into the light to view the message she was able to create.

What she saw caused Lucy to gasp.

 _What was made secret must now be known_

 _Somewhere that's green I have made my home_

 _At night the light's shimmer from where I can see_

 _Not so far away, the water's talk to me_

 _It may get dark, but I do not feel afraid_

 _For I am safe in my shelter of wood and suede_

 _Find me quickly, for I might be lost_

 _You'll get the information you desire, but at what cost?_

It was a riddle.

A complicated one at that. But, what did it have to do with anything? What did any of this mean?

Lucy felt as if she took one step forward and two steps back.

She heard a knock at her door, but couldn't be bothered to get up and answer it. Whoever had knocked chose to enter anyway.

"Hey, brat!" Aquarius' voice reached Lucy's ears. "It's almost time for your piano lesson. You'd better get going."

"Aquarius!" Lucy exclaimed. She picked up her paper and raced over to her nanny. "Look! Look! Look! I figured it out!"

Aquarius sneered at the girl's irritating enthusiasm for whatever she did, but snatched the paper out of her hands just to get her to shut up.

She read over the lines, her eyes widening with surprise. When she was finished, she looked back at Lucy wish a soft smile on her face that was rarely, if ever, seen.

"Well, I'll be damned." She breathed. "I guess you're smarter than I thought."

"Yes, but, I still don't understand. What does it mean?"

"That's what riddles are for, stupid. They're meant to be solved. Think hard about this one. I don't know how much help I'd be, but I'll do what I can. In the meantime, get to your piano lesson and keep that paper to yourself, got it?"

Lucy nodded her head. She folded the page up and tucked it into the pocket of her dress. She gave Aquarius an excited smile before skipping out of the room to go to her lesson.

Aquarius watched after her. It was about time the brat started to figure it out. Soon, she would know more about who exactly she really was and where she came from. All of the secrets she was so desperate to uncover would be made known to her and all who are involved.

The only question is, would she be able to handle it all once she finds out?

* * *

 **That's a wrap!**

 **Holy crap, I made up that riddle on the spot! Kudos to me!**

 **Can anyone figure out what the riddle means before I post the next chapter? Place your bets, folks.**

 **What will Lucy find as she adventures to find out more about her mother?**

 **What does Aquarius know that we don't? (and by 'we' I mean you)**

 **What of Lucy's inevitable engagement to a man she doesn't know rather than love?**

 **Where is our main protagonist Natsu and what is he up to?**

 **Find out all of this and more in the next segment of My Guiding Flame!**

 **Until next time, my lovelies! Kisses!**


	21. Riddle Me This

**Another Lucy chapter. Sorry, my friends, but I've got a little somethin' somethin' to get out of the way before we can get back to Natsu and the guild.**

 **Hang in there, darlings!**

 **It is 3 o' clock in the morning.**

 **Let's get on with this so I can go to bed.**

 **Anyways, here is chapter 21 of My Guiding Flame!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 21**

* * *

 **I'm bigger than my body**

 **I'm colder than this home**

 **I'm meaner than my demons**

 **I'm bigger than these bones**

 **And all the kids cried out,**

" **Please stop, you're scaring me"**

 **I can't help this awful energy**

 **God damn right, you should be scared of me**

 **Who is in control?**

" **Control"- Halsey**

* * *

Lucy felt sick.

Not in the way that made her think that she was going to lose her lunch or the kind that made her want to spend the day in bed, but the kind of sick that churned her stomach in the strangest of ways and caused her heart to clench uncomfortably in her chest as she figured out a way to get out of her current situation.

From the moment she woke up, she knew that it was going to be a terrible day. The first reason was because she was still no closer to figuring out the infamous riddle than she was last week. Aquarius attempted to help, but claimed that it was not her problem and if Lucy couldn't figure it out, she was stupider than she thought.

The second reason was that she had met her supposed husband-to-be today. Her father had set up the meeting a day before he had even informed Lucy of it. Not that arguing against it would have done her any good in the first place, but she'd like to have a little say in the agreement.

Lucy forced herself to think that the man couldn't be as horrible as she originally believed he would be. Her father gave her little information about him besides that his name was Dan Straight and that he was a noble from Peregrande.

Lucy had no idea what a terrible person he'd turn out to be when he visited later in the day.

He wasn't horrible to look at. In fact, he was actually sort of handsome. But, that mattered very little to Lucy from the moment Dan opened his mouth.

He was a misogynistic prick to put it mildly. Lucy was used to being talked down to for being female, but Dan took it to an entirely new level.

"Lucy, my dear," Dan chastised her at the dinner table that night. She was surprised that her father make an effort to make an appearance, but figured that he was trying to put on a show for the newcomer. Lucy paused in cutting her meat to look up at him in confusion. "Please, do not handle your cutlery in such a way. It is must unbecoming of a lady. Allow me."

Lucy wasn't even able to protest before Dan grabbed her knife and fork out of her hand and began cutting her steak himself. Lucy wanted to groan, but refrained from doing so. As if she was unable to cut up her own food. Did he think she was a child?

Judas noticed his daughter's lack of enthusiasm by Dan's actions. "That is rather kind of Dan to do that for you, isn't it, Lucy?"

Lucy didn't miss the implied warning in his tone. She narrowed her eyes at Dan who was now sitting back in his seat. "Yes. Very."

"Think nothing of it, Lulu." Lucy wanted to gag at one of the many nicknames Dan has been giving her throughout the night. None of which she particularly liked. "As a man, it is my job to make sure that you never overexert yourself. A lady as delicate and lovely such as yourself should be treated much like a white rose in a garden that has bloomed more beautifully that all the rest. Wouldn't you agree, my love?"

"Uh…yes." Lucy replied, but it came out more like a question.

"So, what hobbies do you enjoy partaking in?"

Lucy was surprised that he had actually asked her a question about herself. "Oh, well, I enjoy reading in my free time."

Jude chuckled in agreement. "Yes, she burns through books faster than I can buy them for her."

"A hobby fit for a little lady. Go on."

"My favorite hobby would have to be writing, though. It's my main obsession. I always have a story going on in my head that simply flutters about until I take the time to put it down into words on a paper and-"

"That's nice, Lu-tan." Dan interrupted just as she was getting excited. "Writing is a fine hobby to have, but of course you wouldn't be able to do such things once we start a family."

Lucy's eyes widened as she looked over at him incredulously. "A family?! Dan, we're not even married!"

"Lucy-" Judas began, but Dan talked over him.

"Yet. We're not married _yet_. Once we are, you will birth several strong, handsome boys much like myself who will continue our lineage. You will be much too busy raising them to take part in frivolous things such as writing."

"Now hold on just a second! My writing is not 'frivolous', it gives me purpose and what makes you think that I'd be the only one raising these hypothetical children of ours? What would you be doing the entire time they're growing up?"

"Why, running a kingdom, of course!" Dan replied as if it were the most obvious thing. "Your father would not be able to run it forever and since you are his only descendant, and a girl at that, the responsibility would fall into my hands and I shall be deemed king of Fiore as soon as your father sees to it."

Lucy slammed her hands on the table and stood up from her chair, knocking it back onto the ground. "I could run this kingdom just as well as any man could! Perhaps even better! Don't think you hold superiority over me just because you are a man. That matters very little when it comes to who is best for the people of Fiore. The only thing that matters is who will take care of them and all of this land throughout the years and, frankly, I don't believe you fit the role, Dan!"

"Lucy!" Judas shouted, causing Lucy to jump and automatically lose her bravado. "That is enough. If you are going to act up, I highly suggest you retire to your room to cool down and collect your thoughts."

Lucy gritted her teeth and weighed her options. She could go to her room and be done with this entire exchange or she could stay and show both Dan and her father just who they were trying to talk down to.

Lucy took in a deep breath to calm herself. She turned her back on the men to pick her chair back up and push it back under the table before turning on her heel and exiting the dining room.

She was taught throughout her life that it was better to hold your tongue than to make a bad situation worse. Judas might have not hit her for a while, but she did not want to provoke him and force his hand. Especially in front of Dan. He'd probably think that it's what she deserves for speaking out of turn and raising her voice at a man.

She couldn't believe that her father was going to just give her away to a guy like that! He was simply unbearable to be around for more than a second. How could he ever hope to appeal to anyone with a conceited and miserly attitude like that? A person like that could never run a kingdom let alone a delicate one such as Fiore. He'd run it straight into the ground, burning and miserable just so he could prove to everybody else that he's worth more than what they think.

She couldn't let that happen. She couldn't marry that man and she won't. Even if her father might argue otherwise, she had a say in what she did with her life. She tasted freedom back in her days running around with Natsu and she wanted more. She wanted to run through an open field again without feeling paranoid over being caught. She wanted to speak freely without fear of being berated for having her own opinion. She wanted to write till her heart's content without people telling her that it was just a silly hobby that she'd get over once she had more 'important' things to occupy her time with.

This was it. Lucy couldn't stand another minute in this castle. She had to leave before Judas can finalize her engagement to Dan and sign her life away. But, there was hardly any place throughout the land where she could from the king. There were too many details for Lucy to work out in her mind. She'd figure it all out later once she was far enough away to think more clearly.

However, she had more pressing matters to attend to first.

Running the rest of the way to her room, Lucy closed the door behind her and made sure it was locked before grabbing the paper containing the riddle out of her drawer and laying it down on her desk. She picked out an outfit out of the bottom of her closet and donned a pink camisole and a pair of denim skirts along with a comfortable yet fashionable pair of sandals. She pulled the many pins out of her hair that was piled up on top of her head which allowed her golden locks to flow freely down her back. She sighed with relief, happy to be comfortable for the first time that day.

She sat back down at her desk and scrutinized the paper before her. It was long, complicated, and strangely intricate. It obviously had a very specific place in mind, but Lucy couldn't figure out what. _Somewhere green…the waters talk…wood and suede._

It made sense, but at the same time no sense at all. The only green place Lucy could think of was her mother's meadow.

Now _that_ made sense. It was a very green spot in the forest and the shimmering lights the riddle was talking about must have been the fireflies at night and there was a river nearby that babbled like an old biddy.

It was as good of a place to start as any.

Lucy grabbed a flashlight out of one of her drawers, grabbed a jacket, and snuck out of her room after making sure that was no one down the hall.

It had gotten increasingly easier to sneak out of the castle as she got older. The guards became less worried about what she was doing now that she was older and more responsible, but that didn't mean they completely trusted that she wouldn't just walk out of the front door and leave.

Lucy did not come to the meadow often since Natsu left. It felt a bit…empty without him and Gildarts occupying the space. She'd always remember the night they snuck out to play in the meadow and chase around fireflies until the sunrise. How she wished that she could go back to those days. Now that it was fall, the fireflies had long since retired to warmer places and the grass has dried out along with the leaves on the trees that now littered the ground. The crunched under Lucy's feet as she walked down the path that led to her mother's favorite spot.

Lucy looked around the meadow once she had arrived then back down at the paper. The next clue was something about wood. The only things wooden around here were the trees, but there were hundreds lining the outer rim of the meadow. The riddle also said that the river was not so far from whatever she was looking for so it must be somewhere near there.

Lucy sauntered over to the river which prattled on against the boulders that obstructed its path to larger waters. Many trees were lined up beside it, but one did stand out against the rest. It was an oak tree that stood tall, making the others beside it look like mere saplings.

Upon closer inspection, Lucy could make out letters carved into the wood. The letters J and L stood with each other completed with a heart drawn around them.

Lucy knew who the letters stood for, but she wouldn't delve into when or why her parents had come to this particular spot and wrote out their initials in this particular tree. She could think about it until her brain grew numb, but she'd probably never figure it out on her own.

She circled the tree, inspecting all she could see until her eyes fell on a hole at the base of the oak. Lucy fell to her knees and brushed away the leaves and twigs that blocked the gap. Shining her flashlight into the crevice, she could make out the edge of a suede box.

She reached in and pulled it out, wiping off the dirt and insects that found a home on the rectangular container. Lucy flicked open the latch that held the box closed and opened it up.

What lied inside was quite a large stack of enveloped with names and dates written on top along with a small, red colored book that was quite possibly someone's journal. Allowing her curiosity get the best of her, Lucy picked up the first letter she saw and gently opened it, now wanting to sully whichever memories the paper held.

The first words Lucy took in made her breathing falter.

 _Dear Jude,_

 _Would it be alright if I called you that? I know we have not yet met, but I feel as if I know you from all of the beautifully worded letters you have sent to me. Do not worry, no one else has read them besides me and no one ever will. This will remain only between us._

 _I must admit, I was unsure of this engagement when my father first announced it to me, especially since I was to be married to a man I've never met before, but you surprised me. I can't even put a face to the man behind these letters and yet I can't help but feel as if I am in love with you already. Is that foolish of me to say? My father always did say that I lacked the control to keep my thoughts to myself. I hope that would not cause problems between us. I really do want this to work out between you and I. Perhaps I am nothing but a silly, naïve girl who should not let her imagination wander, but I cannot help myself._

 _I anticipate our first meeting next week so I can finally thank you in person for your letters. I can only hope that you will not tell me that this affliction I feel is entirely one-sided._

 _Until we meet, my dear,_

 _Layla Heartfilia_

Lucy let the paper flutter out of her hands.

This was her mother's letter. Her handwriting, her exact words she had written to her father. This box must have been full of them.

The letter Lucy received on her birthday must have been from her mother along with the coded riddle that came along with it. She knew Lucy would figure out what it meant and come look for the box. She wanted Lucy to find out more about her.

But, how? Why?

How could Layla know that her daughter would have to grow up without knowing her? Was she already ill before Lucy could be born? And what of her hidden identity? Did she also know that Judas would try to hide every aspect of her being away from their only child?

Lucy held the answers in her hands, but she was unsure of how deep into this she wanted to go. Perhaps she would receive the answers she wanted, but she'd be left with the weight of all of this information and secrets.

But, Lucy had already made up her mind.

She _needed_ to find out about her mother. She deserved to know.

Lucy stood up from the ground after reclosing the box and tucked it into her jacket. It was best to get back to her room before she was caught then she could read her mother's letters and journal all night if she felt the need to.

It was time for her to take control of her own life and break out of the hold Judas had on her.

She would found out about her mother as well as start up a new life outside of the castle walls and, hopefully, find Natsu in the process.

It was a plan Lucy was going to stick to and no one was going to ruin it for her.

* * *

 **Whoo hoo! Lucy's got a plan! Is it going to work out for her?**

 **Let's wait and see, shall we?**

 **Until next time, my lovelies!**

 **Kisses!**


	22. Escape

**How long has it been since I updated?**

 **About a month, maybe?**

 **Yeah, about that….**

 **I really don't have an excuse.**

 **Lo siento.**

 **Let's just get on with the story.**

 **Here is chapter 22 of My Guiding Flame!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Throw it away**

 **Forget yesterday**

 **We'll make the great escape**

 **We won't hear a word they say**

 **They don't know us anyway**

 **Watch it burn**

 **Let it die**

' **Cause we are finally free tonight**

" **Great Escape" –Boys Like Girls**

* * *

 **Chapter 22**

* * *

With her plan in mind, Lucy reached got on her hands and knees at the corner of her bed frame to take out the duffel bag she kept underneath her bed in case she ever decided to leave and actually go through with it. She threw her casual clothes in, leaving behind the frilly dresses and uncomfortable heels in the closet. They wouldn't be missed. She then threw in a handful of her favorite perfume bottles that were much too expensive and rare to simply leave behind. As often as she dejected her luxurious lifestyles, she couldn't deny her materialistic tendencies.

She had even added Gildarts' wood carving that he gave her for her birthday a few years ago. She didn't exactly understand what it was or the meaning behind it, but if Gildarts went through the trouble to make and give it to her then she would treat it with the utmost care.

After only a few minutes, everything item in her room that she cared enough not to leave behind was in her duffel bag. Sadly, it wasn't much.

Lucy sat back on her bed with a huff, kicking the bag back under her bed with her foot. She knew she had to leave soon. But, she didn't know when the right time would be. Tonight? Tomorrow? A week from now? She couldn't wait for long. If she did, she'd look too far into her plan and find every tiny flaw that would make her decide against going through with it. This is the reason she was still there in the first place.

However, Lucy had more of a motive to leave. It was either leave and find freedom or stay and get married. It wasn't exactly a hard decision.

Only, the largest problem was how to pull it all off without getting caught. She could strip her bed and make a rope out of the sheets and climb out of her window, but her bedroom faced the back and it was too risky to skirt around the castle walls where a plethora of guards are sure to be patrolling around. She'd have to leave from the east side where she can run straight on into the town and hopefully disappear in all of the faces there. She knew she wouldn't be recognized if she didn't stay in the same place for very long. She had rarely, if ever, stepped outside of the castle courtyard and visited her people so hardly any of them knew what she looked like. She could use that to her advantage.

Lucy couldn't help the grin that was stretching across her face. She was really going to do this. After all of those years just complaining about her life, she was actually going to put the effort into changing it. Hopefully for the better.

Lucy made the decision that she was going to leave that night. The sooner the better, after all. First things first, she had to inform Aquarius of her plans. Lucy didn't want to think about what the woman would do to her if she entered the princess' room the next day only to find her missing. Lucy didn't plan on just leaving her pseudo mother behind forever. Even if she did, she'd probably not have a job with Lucy gone and would be exempted from the castle. She'd come back for her for sure as soon as she was able to.

That's the least she could do for her.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Lucy found Aquarius in a hallway filled with portraits of Lucy, Judas, and a number of other royals that Lucy remembered learning about, but didn't care enough to keep their names in mind.

Except, Aquarius wasn't looking at any of the portraits, she was staring up at a barren space on the wall between two other painting. One of Lucy when she was five and one of Judas looking regal and self-absorbed.

Lucy sauntered over and stood next to her nanny, looking up at the same spot. She squinted, trying to see what the older woman was seeing, but coming up with nothing.

They stood in mutual silence for a long minute and Lucy wondered if Aquarius even knew she was there. She opened her mouth to break the silence, but Aquarius beat her to it.

"Your mother's portrait used to hang here." She pointed out, not looking at the princess. "She looked beautiful in it, too. What a waste."

Lucy didn't miss the bitter tone in her nanny's voice. "Did…did she do something wrong? Why did my father remove everything pertaining to her existence?"

Aquarius sighed and closed her eyes. "I can't tell you what goes on in that man's head. Your mother was as good as they come and she was wasted on that sorry sack of skin. She had her secrets, but who doesn't? He didn't love her, he wanted to possess her and she wasn't the kind of woman to be controlled. And yet, she loved that man with all that she was. The only good thing that came out of that mess was you."

Lucy allowed herself a small smile then frowned. "If you don't mind me asking…how did she die? It couldn't have been just from giving birth to me, right?"

"Not completely, no. She was sick even before you were conceived, she used the last of her strength to bring you into the world."

Lucy's heart pounded achingly in her chest. She always knew that she had a hand in her mother's death. If she were never born, Layla would still be here. Her father would be happier. Everyone would probably be better off if she had never existed in the first place.

Lucy's bottom lip wobbled as she held back her tears. Did Aquarius hate her just like her father? She's always been a bit harsh, but Lucy though that was just her personality.

Lucy jumped a bit when a hand landed on her head and was brought to rest on Aquarius' shoulder.

"Don't be so conceited." Aquarius scolded, but in a soft tone. Lucy looked up at her in surprise. "I've known you long enough to know when you're having stupid thoughts. Don't go blaming yourself for the choices your parents made. Layla knew exactly what she was doing from the moment she found out she was pregnant. She knew that she wouldn't make it if she were to give birth, but she made that decision with no hesitation. She loved you very much, Lucy. Her only regret is that she wasn't able to see you grow up into the woman you are today."

Lucy hid her face in her nanny's neck, the tears flowing freely now.

Aquarius ran a hand through the girl's hair. "She wouldn't want to see you married to someone you don't love and living a miserable life. That's what you came to tell me, right? That you're leaving."

Lucy hesitated before nodding slowly.

"I thought as much. Don't worry about leaving me here, either. I'll be fine as long as I know that you're safe and happy somewhere else."

"I'll come back for you!" Lucy exclaimed, pulling away and looking into Aquarius' eyes. "I promise."

Lucy wasn't sure when or how, but she knew that she absolutely had to. Not only Aquarius, either. All of the others deserved to be released from this oppressive building as soon as possible and Lucy was going to make it her mission to make it happen. All of the servants in the house helped raise her, taught her everything she needed to know and showed her more love and compassion than her father had shown her ever since the day she came into the world.

She owed them that much.

Aquarius smiled gently before putting her hands on Lucy's shoulders and pushing her away enough to look into her eyes.

Aquarius' smile vanished and a grim expression took over her face before she said, "Don't."

Lucy reeled back, thrown off by not only the sudden turn the conversation took, but also by Aquarius' lack of tone when she spoke.

Lucy waited for a moment. Waited for Aquarius to laugh in her face and claim that she was only kidding. Waited for Aquarius to hug her again and tell her to make good of Lucy's promise to come back for her.

But, neither of those things happened. Aquarius' face remained impassive. Lucy had seen this mask before when she was younger and Lucy wanted to talk about her mother. Aquarius wasn't one to openly reveal what she was feeling which irked Lucy to no end.

Lucy backed away out of Aquarius's arms. "I-I don't understand. You don't want me to come back?"

"No." Aquarius answered with no hesitation. "I want you to leave and never come back. Not for me. Not for anything."

"But, why-"

"Stop questioning everything! Geez, you're too curious for your own good. Just listen to me, alright?"

Lucy had many arguments to present, but she decided that it was in her best interest to let Aquarius say what she needed to say.

"Layla wouldn't have wanted you to stay in this godforsaken castle and get married to a man you don't love to make the king happy. She'd want you to go out and live your own life and be happy by making your own decisions in life. So, please, leave this place and live your life, Lucy. Don't worry about us lowly servants. I'll be just fine as long as I know that you're out in the world having adventures and living for yourself for once."

"Aquarius…" Lucy breathed out. She didn't know how to respond.

"Stop giving me that look." She suddenly snapped. "I don't want to see pity in your eyes. Especially not for me. You don't know how long I've been waiting for you to grow a pair and finally pack up and leave so I'm not going to let you stay or come back for something as inconsequential as your god damn nanny. Do you hear me?!"

Lucy nodded.

"Good." Aquarius spoke, but her voice was beginning to grow brittle as she avoided Lucy's eyes and stared back at the blank spot on the wall. "Now, get over here and give me a hug before you leave or else."

Lucy gave her nanny a watery smile before circling her arms around her nanny once more, burying her face in the older woman's shoulder, taking in all of the warmth and love she was giving with that single act and feeling more grateful than ever that she was left in this woman's care and had been able to grow with her guidance.

"I love you, Aquarius." Lucy whispered brokenly.

In response, Aquarius tightened her arms around the princess. Lucy took that as a confirmation that she felt the same, but couldn't let go of her pride to reciprocate verbally.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Late than night, Lucy was wide awake as she planned out her escape route. She was far too high up off the ground to simply be able to tie her sheets together and make a rope out of them. Even if she did, there'd be a considerable drop down that could quite possible shatter her ankles.

She paced her room, looking over at the duffel bag on her bed then back towards the floor. She couldn't stand to glance at it for more than a few seconds. She felt as if it were mocking her. As if it were saying, _Just go already! What are you waiting for?!_

Lucy jumped and held back a shriek when she heard pounding at her bedroom door.

Frantically, she grabbed her duffel bag and tossed it back under the bed, wincing at how loud the thud sounded when it landed on the floor.

Lucy ran over to open the door, but it was already in the process of swinging toward her before she could reach the handle.

Standing in the doorway was, regrettably, Dan Straight.

"Oh, good! You're awake!" He exclaimed excitedly. He closed the door behind him and walked around her room, completely uninvited. "There's a few things that I wanted to discuss with you and it simply couldn't wait until the morning."

"I'm sure we have a lot to discuss, Dan, but I really don't-"

"Do not fret, my dear. You are forgiven for your earlier outburst at the dinner table. Although, I do admit that I had half a mind to teach you a lesson about how men are to be spoken to and when before I had a conference with your father about it and he claimed that you are a very agreeable girl only with a slight temper, but it's nothing that can't be tamed. I've decided to trust his judgement and give you another chance, Lu-lu. But, don't think that that I'll let blunders like that happen often while we are married. You will be taught respect presently and without mercy. Am I clear?"

Lucy glared at the man before her, feeling nothing but contempt. She had been angry before, yes, but never to this degree. She was absolutely boiling with rage. Lucy balled up her hands to try and control their shaking. She decided it was best not to reply, lest she explode and say something that might get her in trouble before she was able to escape.

Dan's eyes narrowed, mistaking the redness in Lucy's cheeks as embarrassment. Embarrassment for acting out and disrespecting him. He smiled, satisfied that she seemed to regret her actions. So, she _can_ be taught.

Dan walked up to the princess, an unsettling grin spreading across his face. Lucy wanted to back up, but she stood her ground instead, prepared for whatever Dan was planning.

Slowly, Dan reached a hand up and cupped Lucy's chin in it. She flinched, but didn't pull away. He took it as a signal to continue on. He leaned towards her, his face mere inches away from hers.

Then, he made a fatal mistake.

Putting his lips near Lucy's ear, he whispered, "If you're open to being dishonest about wearing a white gown to the wedding, I'd be happy to conspire with you."

Unthinkingly, Lucy's knee shot up to meet with Dan's groin. His breath came out in a woosh as he crumpled down to the ground and curled up in fetal position, his hands covering his delicates.

Lucy stood stock still for a moment, surprised by her own actions. She hadn't done anything that violent in a while, not that Dan didn't deserve it.

She shook her head and leapt into action before Dan could recover. She grabbed the duffel bag and swung it over her shoulder before stepping over the writhing body on the ground and sprinting towards the door.

She paused with the door half open and looked back at Dan who was beginning to pick himself up off the ground.

"You know what, Dan?" Lucy spoke up. Dan looked over at her. "If you had been a respectful gentlemen and actually _asked_ me to marry you, I might have actually considered it."

With that said, Lucy slammed the door closed and sprinted through the hallway and down the grand stairs. There was no time to be sneaky anymore which led to guards being alerted by the stomping of her shoes against the floor and she sped through the castle. However, none of them knew what to make of it. The princess was dressed like a commoner with a bag over her shoulder and she was obviously in a hurry to get somewhere, but no one knew what actions to take. Should they go after her and bring her to the king or alert the king to her actions immediately. Before they could figure it out, however, Lucy was already well past them.

Lucy only kept her eyes forward. She knew better than to go out the front entrance, knowing the doors were much too heavy to push open. She'd be caught before she was even able to get one door an inch open. She made her way through the kitchen, the pantry, and shoved the servant's entrance open with her shoulder. The cold hair whipped across her face, causing her to involuntarily shiver. She couldn't even pause to enjoy the first taste of freedom.

She heard the shouts of guards and their chainmail clinking with every movement. They'd find her if she didn't hurry and they'd rat her out to her father. She knew she would be punished for not only attempting to escape, but also for potentially damaging his future grandchildren.

She ran and ran, her lungs aching from the overexertion and lack of exercise.

She didn't look back.

She couldn't look back.

There was nothing to go back to.

She was officially free.

* * *

 **Lucy finally escaped!**

 **Huzzah!**

 **And she went out with a bang! And by 'bang', I mean Dan's nuts. (Evil laughter) I really don't like that guy.**

 **So, some Natsu next chapter?**

 **Perhaps…** _ **if**_ **I'm feeling generous.**

 **Until next time, my lovelies!**

 **Kisses!**


	23. Time Goes On

**Don't even say it!**

 **I've been slacking, I know.**

 **I'm not even going to come up with any excuses**

 **Let's just get on with this.**

 **Who else has missed Natsu? *raises hand***

 **Here is chapter 23 of My Guiding Flame**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 23**

* * *

 **Feeling my way through the darkness**

 **Guided by a beating heart**

 **I can't tell where the journey will end**

 **But I know where to start**

 **They tell me I'm too young to understand**

 **They say I'm caught up in a dream**

 **Well life will pass me by if I don't open up my eyes**

 **Well that's fine by me**

 **Wake Me Up- Avicii**

* * *

Against the serene quiet of the lakeside environment, a pebble splashed against the smooth blue surface of the river. Ripples surfaced around the disturbed area, any images that the water reflected become distorted. Another one hit the surface, this time skipping across a few feet as little rippling circles followed it until the pebble lost its momentum and sank.

Sitting on the grassy hill on the riverbank, Natsu watched the waters wave about until it settled then threw in another pebble to repeat the process.

He was bored out of his mind, which happened fairly often as of late. He wished he could at least toss around a fireball just to keep his mind idle, but using magic outside of the guild was strictly prohibited if not on a quest. Gildarts was gone, which wasn't exactly a rare occurrence. He often left without telling anyone where he was going or how long he'd be gone. Natsu remembered making a fuss the first few times, but eventually accepted Gildarts' flighty behavior just as everybody else did. Laxus had gone out on a quest with his pack of weirdos, as Natsu liked to call them, which consisted of Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen. Freed wasn't such a bad guy, but he was very devoted to Laxus which weirded Natsu out a bit. He'd bet that the green-haired man was willing to do just about anything to protect Laxus, even going against the guild if it came down to it. Bickslow was an absolute weirdo without question. He wore odd armor and a helmet to cover up his botched up hairdo and constantly had his fat tongue hanging out. If this wasn't enough, he had wooden dolls that floated around his head and followed him everywhere. He affectionately referred to them as his "babies". Last but not least, in her words, Evergreen. She wasn't exactly 'weird', per say, but she certainly had her quirks. She was vain and mean to pretty much everyone. She reminded Natsu of Mirajane when she was younger. Evergreen proclaimed herself the "Queen of the Fairies" and put down Erza for taking away her alias despite the fact that Erza had never nicknamed herself neither the "Queen of the Fairies" nor "Titania". It was a name that the town's people had given her for all that she has done for them. It was something that she had earned.

Speaking of Erza, Natsu couldn't help but marvel at how far she had come. When she entered through Fairy Tail's door several years ago, she was quiet and withdrawn. She hardly talked to anyone unless she was provoked, meaning Mirajane loved to tease her to get Erza to fight which worked more times than not. Natsu wasn't sure what changed within her, but one day he came to the guild to find her sitting and laughing along with everyone else while joyfully eating a slice of strawberry cake. Of course, Natsu wondered what had happened, but never asked. As long as she was finally happy, Natsu could honestly care less.

"Hey, Natsu." A small voice called out from beside him. Natsu turned and smiled down at the little blue creature sitting down to his left. "Not that this isn't fun, but can we go back to the guild? I'm getting hungry."

Happy. Natsu's closest friend. He had come from absolutely nowhere as an egg, literally falling onto Natsu's head when he was younger as if he were meant just for him. Originally, Natsu believed that a dragon would hatch out of it due to the egg's flame like markings along the side of it. Imagine his surprise when a blue kitten flew out with actual wings and _spoke_ to him. Lisanna, Mira's younger sister, had suggested naming him Happy due to the smiles the kitten put on everyone's faces. The name fit and so it stuck.

Several years later, he was considerably bigger but still acted like a little kid, but everyone loved him just the same.

Natsu chuckled softly. "Sure, buddy. I'm getting pretty hungry, too."

"Don't be silly. You're always hungry!"

Natsu had no argument for that since it was inherently true.

Back at the guild, everything was just as noisy as ever. Mirajane was pacing between tables and handing out drinks to Macao and Wakaba who were leering at Cana who was sitting at the bar with a full barrel of wine in her lap.

Near the back sat a girl names Levy who joined the guild soon after Natsu did. Natsu never talked to her much because she reminded him too much of Lucy. Not that they looked alike. Oh, not at all. But, personality wise, they were practically twins. Quiet, reserved, and huge bookworms. Natsu can't remember a time when she didn't have her nose stuck in a book.

Beside her, nearly passed out in his seat, was a large man named Gajeel. Natsu didn't know what to make of him. He was kicked out of his guild a couple years ago and lived in the streets until Master Makarov took him in and allowed him to join. Since then, Gajeel never really talked about his time before joining Fairy Tail nor did anyone push him to tell. The only person he ever really grew close to was Levy. It was a weird relationship, but if it worked for them.

"Mira!" Natsu called out to the barmaid. "I'm hungry!"

"Isn't that surprising." Mirajane giggled. "Just a minute, Natsu. I'll fix you up something as soon as I'm done here."

Natsu smiled at her gratefully and found a spot next to Erza who was currently sharpening a very big sword. As soon as she was able to get a hold of her new abilities, Erza was a force to be reckoned with. It was quite possible one of the terrifying magic Natsu has ever seen besides Mirajane's. She could summon any weapon under the sun and then some and change her armor in the blink of an eye. He had only went on a handful of quest with Erza before she was promoted to S-class when she was fourteen. Natsu didn't take it well when he was left behind with the rest of the scrubs while people like Erza, Laxus, and Mirajane were able to take on the bigger missions. But, Natsu was certain that someday he will be in the next competition and win so he will be an S-class wizard and rub it in everyone else's faces.

"Natsu," Erza spoke up without looking up from her task. "It's beginning to come to that part of year again. When do you suppose Gildarts is coming back?"

Natsu sighed inwardly.

"Don't worry, he'll be here." Natsu waved her off. "He hasn't missed a single competition and he especially won't miss this one since I'm going to be the winner!"

"You're awfully sure of yourself. Master hasn't even announced the competitors. What makes you so sure you'll be picked this year?"

"Because I've been working my ass off!" Natsu nearly shouted. "I've been training for years and I'm tired of Gramps undermining me."

"I'm certain it's nothing personal, Natsu. Perhaps he just didn't think you were ready yet."

"Why not?! I've successfully completed every quest I ever took on ever since we got here."

"Successfully? With every quest, you've managed to destroy homes, towns and even entire cities. Do you know how hard it is to cover up damage that huge? We're mages, Natsu, and we're in hiding."

Natsu gritted his teeth. "You've destroyed a whole bunch of stuff, too!"

"Yes, but at least I take responsibility for it."

Natsu scoffed. "Whatever." He stood from the bar and grabbed the basket of buffalo wings out of Mira's hands before she could announce her arrival. "I'm taking this to go, Mira. I'll see you later."

The two girls watched him go, his shoulders sagged and his head down.

Mirajane turned towards Erza and glared. "What did you say to him?"

"Nothing he hasn't heard before. You know how he gets, Mira. I'm simply trying to help him realize his potential and he will never be able to if he remains satisfied with destroying everything he touches."

"Well that wasn't the way to do it. Besides, you know how sensitive he gets around this time of year. You could at least try to be a little more compassionate. She was your friend, too."

Erza sighed sadly and set her sword down. "I know. I miss her, too, but there's no use in looking back at the past as much as Natsu does."

Mira shook her head. "It's not as if she's dead, Erza."

"No, but she might as well be." She said bitterly. "Natsu holds on to the hope that he will see her again, but I hardly doubt the King would allow her to even step foot outside of the castle and Natsu knows that, as well. He must let go of her so he can move on."

Mira scowled, took a deep breath, and looked at her friend with sympathy. She knew that this wasn't just about Lucy. Something had happened to Erza in the past that keeps her from looking back at her time in the castle, even with fondness, but no one dared ask. Everyone was entitled to their secrets and Mavis knew that each Fairy Tail member had their fair share of secrets.

Deciding to take the higher road instead of picking a fight with Erza like she used to, Mirajane turned away from the redhead and resumed waiting on tables.

Being ever so optimistic, Mirajane always hoped that Natsu would see his friend again. Not just for him, but for Erza, too.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Natsu stomped his way back home, crunching on the bones of the chicken Mira had given him.

Erza had no right to say those things to him, even if she did mean for her words to be encouraging. She was his nakama and they didn't bring each other down like that. He was certainly going to be part of the competition this year and he _will_ win. Afterwards, he'll be sure to rub it in Erza's face.

Stopping at the front door of his little hut he shared with Happy, Natsu realized that he felt his little friend back at the guild. He wondered if he should just leave him there and let him get back home on his own, but it wasn't worth hearing the Exceed's whining about how Natsu mistreated him. He groaned and turned on his heel to begin sprinting back at the guild.

Running through the crowded streets, Natsu didn't take in the faces of the people he passed by. Not until he felt as if a bolt of electricity run through his veins. He came to a screeching halt then looked around frantically, believing someone was playing some sort of trick on him.

His eyes widened as he caught sight of long, golden hair.

He didn't think twice as he bolted towards the head of hair, uncaring of the people protesting against his rough shoves.

Unfortunately, he lost sight of it nearly as quickly as he had found it.

He turned in circles, praying that he'd see it again, but it was gone. Natsu sagged and ran a hand through his spiked hair. He walked out from the middle of the street to get out of people's way and leaned against one of the buildings. Loosening his scarf around his neck, Natsu reached down to the pretty little trinket laying against his collarbone and pulled it out.

The moon-shaped pendant shined up at him.

Natsu sighed. "I'm going crazy, Lucy."

Tucking the necklace back in, Natsu pushed off the wall and continued on his way, secretly keeping an eye open for golden hair.

FTFTFTFTFTFT

About ten feet away, Lucy Heartfilia stopped in her tracks as someone calling out her name reached her ears.

She looked around the crowd, but found nothing out of the usual.

Shrugging, Lucy opened up the doors to the little shop that sold casual clothes that she desperately needed.

Magnolia seemed as good as a place to live as any.

* * *

 **Well, that was short.**

 **Sorry about that, but it's been a minute and I'm a little rusty, but the next chapter will be better, I promise!**

 **So, will Lucy and Natsu meet up soon again and we get the reunion we've been waiting for?**

 **I suppose you won't know unless you stayed tuned for the upcoming chapters!**

 **Until next time, my lovelies!**

 **Kisses!**

 **(I do not own Fairy Tail)**


	24. Reunion

**Should I be ashamed of myself?**

 **Maybe.**

 **But, am I?**

 **Nope.**

 **Life happens, my dudes.**

 **Life happens.**

 **Anyway, here's Wonderwall.**

 **Also Chapter 24 of My Guiding Flame.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 24**

* * *

 **And all the roads we have to walk are winding**

 **And all the lights that lead us there are blinding**

 **There are many things that I**

 **Would like to say to you, but I don't know how**

 **Because maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me**

 **And after all, you're my wonderwall**

 **Wonderwall- Oasis**

* * *

"What do you mean it costs 30,000 Jewels?!" Lucy screeched in protest, causing the shopkeeper to plug his ears at the offending sound.

"Just as I said, my dear. This isn't just any old sweater."

"Oh, yeah?" Lucy sneered at him and placed her hands on her hips. "What makes it so special, then?"

The shopkeeper smiled at her question and picked up the blue crop-topped sweater, which defeated the purpose of the entire sweater, and swept a hand over it. "This sweater isn't only fashionable, but it also changes color based on your mood. I hear it's all the rage in Bosco."

"Do you really expect me to believe that?!" Lucy scoffed. She looked back towards the sweater and found that she _really_ wanted the stupid thing no matter how ridiculous the price was. Swallowing her pride, Lucy leaned forward on the counter between the two of them, being sure to push out her very filled out chest, and spoke in a low, sultry voice. "Are you sure you can't bring the price down any lower? Just a little bit?"

Two minutes later, Lucy was stomping out of the shop sweaterless and thoroughly embarrassed. How was she supposed to know the shopkeeper preferred men?!

She pouted and wished Aquarius were here. She could have scared the shopkeeper enough into handing over the sweater, but, sadly, she was miles away and would quite possibly smack Lucy on the head for selling herself like that just to get a cheaper price on some clothes. But, living on her own wasn't easy and her funds were shrinking day by day. She had only lived in Magnolia for a week and she was ready to call it quits. If she didn't find a job soon, she'd be kicked out of her new apartment and her landlady didn't seem to be the understanding type. It was a very nice apartment with a big bathroom and even a fireplace. Her rent wasn't that extreme, but it also wasn't cheap.

However, there was no possible way she was returning to the castle. Things _had_ to work here. They just had to.

Lucy had heard rumors of a guild in town that offered jobs to people who didn't have a lot of options left. She had walked past the building multiple times and found that it wasn't something to gawk at. It was just a simple, wood and brick building standing in the middle of town with a few brightly colored banners hanging around to dress it up a little bit. Lucy hadn't seen a lot of people come in and out, but she had heard plenty of people talk about how rowdy and loud the members are. The only people she had caught a glimpse of was a gorgeous, silver-haired woman that looked vaguely familiar and a tiny old man with a walking stick and a funny hat.

However, Lucy had also heard a lot of unfortunate rumors about Fairy Tail as well. Such as, they were a bunch of unruly drunks that destroyed everything they touched. They were irresponsible just as much as they were well-meaning.

Lucy smiled, thinking that it'd be the perfect place for someone like Natsu. Her smile quickly turned around as she thought about where on earth that boy could be right now and what he was doing. Was he thinking of her too?

Lucy stopped where she was and found herself, coincidentally, right at the front door of Fairy Tail. Even from on the other side of the massive doors, Lucy could clearly hear all of the yelling and smashing of furniture inside. She winced, imagining the discourse occurring in that building and found herself quickly walking away.

She could cross finding a job here off her list.

If she had looked back, she would have noticed the doors opening back up and a pink-haired boy darting out with a blue feline with wings trailing behind him.

As she continued on home, Lucy mentally counted the amount of finances she had leftover and didn't like the results. If she didn't want to eat for a couple weeks, she could afford to stay in her apartment, but that also meant cutting off her heat which also meant no more hot showers and bundling up at night would have to be a necessity. Lucy never had a job in her life and wasn't sure she'd be good at it even if she did have one. She never had to cook or clean or lift anything heavier than a book. Hell, she didn't even have to dress herself in the past. The only skill she had was writing and that wasn't something that would immediately help her.

Lucy began her trek back to the apartment she might not have in a while. She planned on doing nothing but taking a hot, relaxing bath before getting beneath the covers and feeling sorry for herself.

But, first…

Lucy's stomach decided to growl at that very moment. She growled with frustration. She had yet to buy groceries so her fridge was obviously empty. Perhaps she'd be able to find a cheap restaurant before heading home.

Lucy changed her coarse to head down the road towards a nice looking dine, but found that her way was blocked by a group of screeching girls crowded around something. If she wanted to get it, she'd have to push past them which would be no easy feat seeing how thick the crowd was.

Lucy groaned, but jumped into the fray and started elbowing her way through the squealing women.

She finally made her way close to the center where the women spaced out, but didn't find anything special.

A tall man with dark blue hair and stupid looking cape was at the center blowing kisses and winking at the women, driving them crazy. Lucy rolled her eyes, figuring that he was some sort of celebrity around these parts, but also found that the more she looked at him the more she was drawn to his soft looking hair and his beautiful brown eyes…

At that moment, the man turned his head, met Lucy's eyes and smirked.

Before she knew it, Lucy was just as enthralled and love-struck as the group surrounding her.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFT

"Man, I'm starving." Natsu complained loudly as he and Happy sauntered through town.

"Aye." Happy agreed. "But, we've been banned from most places around here since you either wreck their restaurant or eat everything nearly they have."

Natsu pouted. "It's not like it's my fault. They should have been better prepared."

Happy was about to make a comment, but was distracted by the crowd in front of them. "Hey, what's going on over there?"

Natsu looked over to where his friend was pointing and shrugged. "Dunno. Probably some celebrity or something. We should probably just go around them."

"It's Salamander!" They heard a girl screech loudly.

"He's so dreamy!" Another one squealed.

"Salamander?" Natsu repeated then his eyes lit up with excitement. "Happy, you don't think it's Igneel, do you?!"

Happy looked up at the pink-haired boy blankly. "Why would you think-"

"I gotta see if it's him!" Natsu jetted off before the cat could finish his sentence. Happy sighed and lifted off the ground to follow.

Natsu ran up to the crowd and pushed through the women unforgivably to get to the center.

"Igneel, I can't believe it's…" Natsu trailed off as he came face-to-face with not a dragon, but an ordinary man. "Who are you supposed to be?"

The man reeled back, thoroughly insulted by not being recognized. "Me? I'm surprised you don't know by now. I am Boris or, as my peers call me, the great Salamander! I am a grand wizard from-"

"Don't care." Natsu waved him off and started to walk off before being suddenly attacked by the group of women.

"How dare you interrupt the great Salamander!"

"He just doesn't know true beauty when he sees it!"

"You're lucky he didn't knock you on your face, freak!"

"Ladies, ladies." Boris said. "There's no need for violence. I will be holding a party on a yacht later on tonight and all of you are invited. I hope to see all of your beautiful faces. Choi."

With that said, the self-proclaimed Salamander shot off onto a spiral of blue flames into the sky. The girls 'ooh-ed' and 'aah-ed' at the display before going about their day.

"Geez." Natsu complained as he rubbed at his head where the girls had hit him. "Who does that guy think he is?"

"Well, at least now we know it wasn't Igneel." Happy attempted to comfort his friend.

"That guy was a real jerk, wasn't he?" A new voice piped up from beside them.

Both boys turned their heads to look at the newcomer. Natsu's eyes widened considerably in surprise.

Lucy stood before the pink-haired boy and the blue cat, looking more confident than she felt. Natsu's expression didn't help to put her mind at ease. He was shocked, sure, but what else was he feeling? Was he excited? Disappointed? He hadn't changed much at all since she last saw him leaving the castle. Same spiked, pink hair. Same sharp, reptilian green eyes. Same old scarf wrapped around his neck.

She had always planned to see him again, but she believed that it would take a lot more time and effort rather than having him walk through a crowd then getting attacked by girls directly afterwards. One minute she was under a spell of some sorts and mooning over a guy she had never met before, the next she was standing in front of the boy who made her childhood worth remembering.

Her first instinct was to reach out and hug him and feel the warmth that radiated from him like a warm flame. She wanted to tell him how awful it had been without him there to talk to every night. How lonely it was going from lesson and lesson without the hope of seeing him afterwards. How much he appeared in her dreams like she wished he would in real life only to fade away once her eyes opened the next morning.

But, his lack of response kept her from doing anything of the sort. Instead, she forced a smile on her face and interlocked her hands behind her back.

"It's good to see you after so long…" She began casually, rocking on her heels. "But, you're probably busy right now so I'm just going to-"

"Lucy." Natsu said, slowly rising to stand in front of her.

Lucy cleared her throat nervously. "Hello, Natsu. Long time, no see. You look…good. I mean, you look the same, but you looked good then so you obviously look good now. It's been, what, five years? No biggie, right? You're taller than I expected. I mean, not by much but still pretty tall compared to the last time I saw you. That sounds stupid since the last time I saw you we were twelve. Obviously, you would have grown since then, but-"

Lucy let out a surprised squeak as she was wrapped into a tight hug that Natsu had initiated. His warmth enveloped her like fire through her veins, every nerve in her body being alerted by the contact. She stood stock still to take in the moment and make sure that it wasn't another dream of hers. But, no. He was here and he was real. The earthy scent she missed wafted from him and his pink hair that stuck in all directions tickled her cheek.

Blue talking cat or not, this was real. So, why waste time on second-guessing it when she can be hugging him back?

Lucy closed her eyes as she reciprocated the hug, burying her face in his shoulder.

"I never thought I'd see you again." Natsu whispered hoarsely.

Lucy chuckled softly. "We promised, didn't we? Speaking of," Lucy pulled away reluctantly to give Natsu a sly grin. "I believe you have something of mine?"

Natsu pretended to think for a minute before shrugging. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Natsu…"

"Okay, fine." Natsu reached into his vest and pulled out the moon locket that he had kept close to him all these years. "I think it'd look better on you anyway."

Lucy took the necklace gratefully and placed it around her neck.

"Uh, I hate to interrupt you guys," Happy said. "but, you're standing in the middle of the street hugging each other and people are starting to stare."

It was only then that Lucy noticed the look they were getting from passerby's. She blushed and stepped away from her friend who looked like he could care less what other people were thinking.

"Why don't we go back to my apartment." Lucy suggested. "I have so much I need to tell you about."

Natsu smiled brightly and nodded. "Sounds good."

* * *

 **REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD!**

 **Our favorite dorks are back together and just as awkward as ever!**

 **Hallelujah!**

 **It's been a long time coming, but I finally got it done.**

 **Just let me be proud of this, okay?**

 **Until next time, my lovelies!**

 **Kisses!**

 **(I do not own Fairy Tail)**


End file.
